Kerby Smith

Kerby Smith learned to repair and patch his clothes on his mother’s sewing machine as a teenager. While working his way through college, where he received a degree in art, he worked for the local newspaper. His newspaper experience led to a career in photojournalism, and his work was published worldwide. It was on an assignment for National Geographic Magazine that he met and married the artist, Lura Schwarz. Her work in fabric led her to become an award winning art quilter. As a photographer, Kerby followed the change from film to digital imaging. Early on, he experimented and learned to print his images on canvas. Watching the process, Lura asked him if he could print on other fabrics for her to use in her art quilts. He expanded his research to include cotton and silk. The challenge was to get rich, saturated color on these fabrics using archival inkjet printers. He developed a work flow that soon he was teaching to others. Together, Lura and Kerby wrote a book, Secrets of Digital Quilting from Camera to Quilt. On this journey he started making his own art quilts. Many of them have been in major exhibits across the country. He says, “I like to use canvas in my quilt tops, and my BERNINA sewing computer is the best brush I have for creating lines of thread in my art.”