Hi friends.
My heart swells when I think about the quilters and quilts from Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Their story melds hardship with the triumph of creativity, ingenuity, and human perseverance. These quilts are THRILLING to me. I am overwhelmed by them.

I’ve always had a soft spot for textile arts or anything that is considered traditional “women’s work”. It feels sacred. Quilters are memory keepers in addition to being storytellers, artists, and teachers. The quilts of Gee’s Bend are visual art enhanced by context, meaning, and significance. And that, my friends, is my favorite kind of art. Sure, it looks great on it’s own. Yes, I would happily look at it even if I didn’t know the backstory. BUT, when I hear about the person who made it, or better yet, the history of the community that produces these works, I’m all in. SOLD.

Ok, let’s take a look, yeah?

Quilter Jorena Pettway and two young girls | by Arthur Rothstein | 1937
Leola Pettway and Qunnie Pettway at the Freedom Quilting Bee | via Souls Grown Deep Foundation

H I S T O R Y

Let’s start with the history of Gee’s Bend and the environment that created these quilts. There is plenty I didn’t include in this summary and, honestly, the secondary-resources started looping together. I’ve managed to separate the big moments and themes for you. Please take a closer look at the sources for more information: this S mithsonian article and the Souls Grown Deep website are particularly insightful, and this YouTube video from the New York Times is a worthwhile watch.

1816: Joseph Gee established a cotton plantation in rural Alabama. Surrounded by the Alabama River, Gee’s Bend was an isolated 15-mile stretch of land. (Source)
1845: Mark H. Pettway purchased the plantation and enslaved people from the Gee family. The Pettway surname remains common in Wilcox County. (Source)

In the winter, enslaved women sewed together scraps of fabric to make quilts. This was a practical solution for warmth and also became an artistic and communal tradition.
1861-1865: After the Civil War, many formerly enslaved people became tenet farmers in Gee’s Bend. With no alternative, many farmers took loans from E.O. Rentz, a businessman with predatory interest rates. (Source)
1932: The price of cotton fell during the Depression and Rentz’ widow foreclosed on over 50 families who could not repay their loans. The community was denied income and food access due to its isolated location. (Source)

1933: The Red Cross provided public assistance for residents of Gee’s Bend to counteract significant economic hardship. (Source)
1937: The Resettlement Administration purchased the former Gee plantation – approximately 10,000 acres of land- and rented individual farm plots to residents of Gee’s Bend to tend. (Source)
1962: The ferry service from Gee’s Bend to Camden was strategically eliminated, making it difficult for Gee’s Bend residents to access vital services or resources, and reducing the number of Black citizens who could register to vote. (Source)

Cable ferry between Camden and Gees Bend, Alabama | by Marion Post Wolcott | c. 1939

1965: The Freedom Quilting Bee was founded by 150 Black women in rural Alabama. This workers cooperative sold quilts around the country, eventually making deals with Bloomingdales and Sears. (Source)
1965: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Gee’s Bend on his way to Selma and is quoted saying: “I came over here to Gee’s Bend to tell you, You are somebody.” (Source)
1998: William Arnett purchased a work-clothes quilt from Annie Mae Young for several thousand dollars and sparked national interest in the quilts and quilters from Gee’s Bend.

R E C O G N I T I O N

Quilts and quilters from Gee’s Bend have received significant national recognition since the late 1990s, so I’m twenty years late to this party. Here’s what some big media had to say about the artworks at the time:

“The strikingly beautiful just might deserve a place among the great works of twentieth-century abstract art.”
–Mark Stevens, New York Magazine art critic

It was a process of making order out of disorder, of finding harmony in what seems to the naked eye like noise. I think it helps explain why these quilts feel so joyful. The human eye has an uncanny ability to detect patterns and find balance, even within milliseconds of seeing an object or artwork. We often think of balance as equivalent to symmetry, and symmetrical objects are often delightful. But even when a composition is asymmetrical, our brain can unconsciously detect whether or not it is balanced. Some researchers call this property dynamic balance, perhaps because it feels more active than a purely symmetrical design. We find joy in looking at these quilts I think because they create an unlikely sense of harmony: they look quirky and spontaneous, but underneath that whimsical appearance is a joyful sense of balance, and this combination is deeply satisfying.
The Aesthetic of Joy

“Gee’s Bend’s “eye-poppingly gorgeous” quilts turn out to be some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced. Imagine Matisse and Klee (if you think I’m wildly exaggerating, see the show), arising not from rarefied Europe, but from the caramel soil of the rural South.”
–Michael Kimmelman, New York Times art critic

Significantly, in this quilt, even within the largest, simplest section—a section of nearly rectangular brown corduroy—variegation is wrought by using several strips, with their seams subtly apparent. Such “inconsequential” techniques as this, while they may seem arbitrary or functional rather than deliberately artful, could not be more consciously deployed. It is in such details as this, as is true in most serious composition, that the difference between craft and art is forged.
Souls Grow Deep

L E G A C Y

Here are some of the notable impacts from Gee’s Bend’s quilts. Of course, the most significant influence of the creative process will likely remain unknown to the media.

“The Quilts of Gee’s Bend” opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) in September 2002 after William Arnett, an art collector, saw photographs of quilts and tracked them down. The first exhibition and public show of quilts and started a frenzy of national excitement.
The Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective was formed in 2003 by more than fifty quilters. The collective hosts quilting retreats with China Pettway and Mary Ann Pettway. In the past, it seems that the Collective was used to market and sell quilts, with the maker earning majority of the profit. The rest goes to the collective for expenses and distribution to the other members.

In 2015, Mary Lee Bendolph, Loretta Pettway, and Lucy Mingo were awarded NEA National Heritage Fellowships, which “recognize the recipients’ artistic excellence and support their continuing contributions to our nation’s traditional arts heritage.”
It is suggested that the dress worn by Michelle Obama in her official portrait was inspired by the quilts of Gee’s Bend.