Robert Shaw is a widely recognized expert on antique and contemporary quilts and American folk art and the author of such critically acclaimed books as American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007, The Art Quilt, Hawaiian Quilt Masterpieces, Quilts: A Living Tradition, and America's Traditional Crafts.

Bob was curator at the Shelburne (VT) Museum from 1981-1994, where he worked with that institution's world-renowned collections of American folk art, and served as curator of special exhibits for Quilts Inc./International Quilt Festival in Houston from 1998-2003. He has curated exhibitions of antique and contemporary quilts at major museums and expositions in the United Sates, Europe and Japan, including the National Gallery of Art, the New England Quilt Museum, and the University of Michigan Art Museum, and lectured at the American Folk Art Museum, the American Craft Museum, the de Young Museum of Fine Arts, Sotheby's, the Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts, and dozens of other venues. His special exhibition, "Three American Masters—Kate Adams, M. Joan Lintault, and Susan Shie," was seen by more than 259,000 people at the 2009 Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival in Japan.

Bob also has contributed to numerous books and exhibition catalogs; written articles for The Magazine Antiques, Quilter's Newsletter, Fiber Arts, and Early American Life; and served as a consultant to museums, private collectors, artists, and Sotheby's.