Quilted journey: Bigfork maker’s work to be featured in ‘Think Modern, Montana!’

Merrie Ford’s quilting journey started in eighth grade sewing class in Kalispell. Now, after moving around the country and picking up different skills and styles along the way, she has returned to the Flathead to start her own studio, theArtBarnMT, in Bigfork.  

It was under the patient guidance of Naomi Perry, who taught home economics at Kalispell’s junior high school for 22 years, that Ford first found her passion.  

“I pretty much fell in love with fabric and sewed a lot of clothes during high school and college,” Ford said. A home economics major and art history minor, it seems natural that Ford would make her way to quilting. At 22 years old, she became one of the youngest founding members of Flathead Quilters’ Guild.  

“There’s a lot of support in a multigenerational group like that,” Ford said. She was able to learn as a beginner with guidance and a community of support.  

There was a gap in Ford’s quilting resume as she raised her five children, working as an office and corporate events manager through the years and travelling the country as her husband built his career.  

“When I kind of came back into it, this whole new thing with quilting had started and it wasn’t women cutting up fabric they already have... but it was approached much more artistically; not only I’m going to make my own color choices, I’m going to plan this, and I want to break the rules a little bit,” Ford said.  

Ford has been in about 10 quilting guilds since that first one, learning from makers across the country. The Kansas City guild she participated in was dedicated to modern quilting, and she was able to learn from mentors and speakers pushing the boundaries of patchwork.  

“That’s one of the reasons I’m just focused and passionate about the education part of it, because I would say I’ve learned more in the last dozen years than the previous two dozen,” Ford said.  

Along the way, she began teaching herself. Originally, she was attending seminars in the Midwest and coming home to teach her friends. Later, she went on to teach sewing classes to teenagers at her own quilting shop in New Jersey.  

Travelling has also played a role in Ford’s technique and inspiration. She visits quilt shops on her trips, and they all have a different flavor. Ocean-inspired fabrics in Florida, elk, moose and bear out west. Different cultures; Native American or immigrant for example, sometimes have an influence on a place’s quilts too.  

“From an artistic perspective, the moves are really good because you have some access to different parts of the country geographically and the artistic influences there,” Ford said.  

Ford and her husband moved back to Bigfork in 2021 and have found a new project renovating an old farmhouse and its outbuildings at MeadowSweet Farm. Ford had her eye on one of the barns for a studio, and theArtBarnMT, near the intersection of Highway 35 and McCaffery Road, was born.  

The studio is colored by Ford’s example pieces; quilted faces, abstract patchwork, a pieced color wheel. There’s room for a small class to sew under high ceilings with natural and warm ceiling light. Attached is a small living area for visiting teachers to stay in.  

“I love Bigfork so much and how they’ve always been supportive of the arts in a variety of ways, so what I kind of wanted to do with this was support that and have a creative space where if somebody else teaching or a group...want a place to sew together or work on something, it is not cost prohibitive for them to do that,” Ford said.  

TheArtBarnMT opened this summer and already hosted Hockaday’s plain air group. Ford hopes to run six classes a month May through September and is scheduling two weeklong retreats with five days of classes. Ford will teach some of her own classes and invite others to share their craft.  

“I just kind of look forward supporting all the creativity that’s already going on in the area,” Ford said.  

Ford will be the featured artist in Flathead Quilters’ Guild’s “Think Modern, Montana!” quilt show Friday, Sept. 20, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Flathead County Fairgrounds Expo Building.