User:KathleenCWilson/sandbox

Kathleen Curtis Wilson is an internationally known researcher, writer, editor, speaker, and program developer. Her work has been recognized in the publication of countless articles in professional publications and three books. Irish People, Irish Linen (Ohio University Press, 2011) is a seminal study of the globalization of linen produced on the island of Ireland for over 400 years. As a visiting scholar and honorary fellow at the University of Ulster, Belfast, Northern Ireland, Wilson uncovered the finest examples of linen in private and public textile collections, and consulted with the foremost textile authorities on the subject to write a book that is lavishly illustrated, and tells of art, social and economic history, design, fashion, architecture, technology, and cultural traditions that celebrate Ireland’s linen industry. During her tenure at the University of Ulster, she conceptualized and served as leader for “The Ulster Linen Project: A New Identity for Northern Ireland.” The project was shortlisted for the Rolex Awards for Enterprise in 2004. Textile Art from Southern Appalachia: the quiet work of women was published in 2001. Wilson guest curated a multi-venue international exhibition by the same name that completed a two-year tour at the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh. Her third book, Uplifting the South—Mary Mildred Sullivan’s Legacy for Appalachia, was published in 2006. A renowned authority on Appalachian crafts, Wilson was selected as editor of the Craft Section of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Appalachia, University of Tennessee Press, 2006. In 2013, she was awarded permanent status as a Fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. During a residency Fellowship in 2014, she compiled the history of the Southern Industrial Educational Association, 1905-1926, a digital resource for Appalachian scholars and students, hosted by Virginia Tech. She has been a writer-in- residence at Yaddo and the Vermont Studio Center. Wilson’s work has raised public awareness of social, cultural, and economic issues in Appalachia and the region’s connection to the Scots Irish migration. She is currently working on a novel, The Fabric of Wishful Thinking.