Suzanne Sawyer Helms (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, preservation specialist, and archivist whose creative and scholarly work centers on materiality, memory, and narrative. Originally from Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, she comes from a family deeply rooted in both place and making—an inheritance that continues to shape her practice and values.

She holds a BFA in Art Education and a BSW from Virginia Commonwealth University, an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Alabama, and an MLIS from the UNC Greensboro. With over twenty-five years of teaching experience and twelve years in book and paper conservation, Helms brings a dynamic and practice-based perspective to her academic and creative work.

Since joining UNCG Libraries in 2017, she has served as a preservation specialist and, since 2021, as an archivist. She teaches course-integrated instruction and workshops in letterpress, bookbinding, book repair, and zine-making. As a visiting artist, she has led programs across the Southeast in book arts and papermaking.

Her work has been exhibited nationally, and her artist’s books are included in various collections, such as the Library of Congress; the Schomburg Center at the New York Public Library; and university libraries at Yale, Stanford, Brown, UC Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, and Scripps College, among others. Her work has been published in the letterpress instructional guide For The Love of Letterpress and the book 500 Paper Objects.

Currently, Helms maintains her studio and resides in Eden, NC, with her spouse, Scott, and their two endearingly quirky cats, Jane and Doyle.