Vicki Conley, Pinon Pottery

"It has been the best career possible---doing what I love"

Vicki Conley grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and has lived in the mountains of southern New Mexico for the past 46 years. A creative person all her life, she recently retired after a 42-year career as a studio potter, selling her work throughout the western United States at fine art and craft fairs. In 2000, she opened Piñon Pottery, a gallery in her hometown of Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico, where she showcased her own pottery and art quilts alongside work by other artists.

A fiber artist for more than 20 years, Vicki now focuses on art quilting and enjoys teaching at guilds and retreat centers across the country. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and was included in Quilt National 2017 and 2025. Her pieces are held in both public and private collections.

Vicki’s formal education is in the sciences, with a BS in Chemistry and an MS in Physiology. She brings this background to her textile work, interpreting the natural world through fabric and thread with the goal of highlighting the beauty of—and need to conserve—public lands. She is best known for her original national park poster–style art quilts. Vicki and her husband travel extensively in their RV with their two dogs, always searching for the next source of inspiration. Her work ranges from bold, graphic representational imagery to abstract, improvisational quilts that continue to reference the natural world.

Vicki’s work has been featured in numerous publications, including Machine Quilting Unlimited, Art Quilting Studio, Art Quilt Quarterly, Quilting Arts Magazine, Artist Magazine, and Patchwork Gilde Deutschland. She has been a guest on The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson, where she demonstrated techniques used in her national park art quilts, and has also appeared on Quilting Arts TV (series 3100 and 3200) on PBS.

Vicki is a Juried Artist member of Studio Art Quilt Associated (SAQA), the founder of the art quilt collective 4 Common Corners, has served on various Global SAQA committees and is currently the regional rep for the SAQA New Mexico region.  

Please enjoy watching the interview Lisa Walton did with me recently as part of her Artist Stories series. I discuses all that goes into making one of my national park quilts.

I am a Juried Artist Member of Studio Art Quilt Associates and serve as the regional rep for the New Mexico region.

I am also the founding member of 4 Common Corners artist group

Click below to watch me talk about my quilt from Quilt National ‘17

Vicki’s Artist Resume