Dayton resident Mary Borkowski has been quilting since 1930, and some 80 quilts later, she is nationally recognized as a true folk artist whose medium is needle and thread. Like the best folk artists, Borkowski has both borrowed from tradition and added her own innovations, such as the body of 110 "thread paintings" she's done since 1965. These works, an outgrowth of the narrative aspect of her quilts, are done on silk, felt or velvet backgrounds and use silk thread and yarn. Borkowski's quilts and "thread paintings" are in several major collections and museums, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of American Folk Art and the Dayton Art Institute. Borkowski died in 2008.