Bets Ramsey’s formal training includes a B.A. in Art, with honors, from the University of Chattanooga in 1950, and an M.S. in crafts and design form the University of Tennessee in 1972. She is a founding member of the American Quilt Study Group (AQSG) and the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists, and is a member of the American Crafts Council, the South Highland Craft Guild, and other related professional organizations.
Perhaps best known for her career as a textile artist, Ramsey has made a lasting impact on quilters and the history of quilting through a variety of venues within the quilt world, not least of which were her 884 weekly columns begun in 1980 and ending in 1991, “The Quilter,” that ran in the Chattanooga Times. In 1974 Ramsey founded the Southern Quilt Symposium, an early gathering in the newly emerging quilt revival of late 20th century, at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, which lasted 17 years. Each year she coordinated a variety of lectures and workshops for the symposium as well as curated an annual major exhibit, drawn from nation-wide quilt artists, museums, and private collectors. It was the first continual art quilt series that drew from a wide audience and was placed in an art setting. That first annual exhibit began with the Holstein/van der Hoof “The Pieced Quilt” from the Whitney Museum. The last one was in 1991, “Southern Quilts: A New View.” She has curated numerous other exhibits over the years in addition to the ones associated with the Southern Quilt Symposium and has had her own work shown in galleries and museums across the United States and abroad, many which featured her as the solo artist. From 1983-1987 Ramsey co-directed the Quilts of Tennessee documentation project with co-author Merikay Waldvogel, which resulted in a book and traveling exhibition. In addition she has presented six research paper at the American Quilt Study Group’s annual seminar in 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1993 and seen them published by AQSG http://www.h-net.org/~aqsg. Ramsey has also authored three other books plus written countless essays, catalogs, book reviews and exhibition reviews during her career. Ramsey continues to lecture, serve as a consultant to several museums, and exhibit her work. A 40-year retrospective of her work was exhibited in Marion, Indiana, at The Quilters Hall of Fame during Celebration 2005. At her induction festivities Ramsey made a donation of 15 small quilts to The Quilters Hall of Fame that she made. These particular quilts each contain some fabric pieces from the fabric stash of QHF Florence Peto.
Bets Ramsey
Inducted in 2005 at The Quilters Hall of Fame Celebration, Marion, Indiana.