Gee’s Bend – The Architecture of the Quilt

The Facts
Gee’s Bend is a touring exhibit organized by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX and the Tinwood
Alliance in Atlanta, GA. The Tinwood Alliance is a non-profit organization to promote previously unknown or
underrepresented art.

Coming from: The Walters Arts Museum in Baltimore MD

Tacoma is the only West coast venue. Exhibit open till the 9th of December.

Going to: The Speed Art Museum in Louisville KY. (January 2nd – March 23rd)

First Exhibit
Five years ago, in September 2002, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
before traveling to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. (Winter 2003)

The New York Times called the quilts "some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has
produced."

The quiltmakers have visited the White House; in 2006, the USPS issued a series of stamps featuring the Gee’s
Bend quilts.

In 2003, all the living quilters of Gee’s Bend — more than fifty women – formed the Gee’s Bend Quilters
Collective to market and sell the quilts. The Collective is owned and operated by the women of Gee’s Bend.
Every quilt sold by the Gee’s Bend Quilt Collective is unique, individually produced, and authentic — each
quilt is signed by the quilter and labeled with a serial number.

Gee’s Bend History

Gee’s Bend is in Alabama. Southern Alabama nearer to Florida. Wilcox County. The nearest metropolitan area
is Mongomery, AL. It is 35 square miles area in a horseshoe bend of the Alabama river. It got its name from the
first African-American settlers who were slaves of Joseph Gee. In 1845, a white family – the Pettways –
purchased the plantation. You’ll see Pettways as the last name for a few quiltmakers.

Current Exhibit
Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt shows 60+ quilts. The earliest quilts on display are from the 1920ies.
More than one-third of them have been made since the first exhibit.

Various sections

"Avocado Leaf" Corderoy, Remnant of the 1970s

In 1972, Sears Roebuck and Company contracted with the Freedom Quilting Bee (a Gee’s
Bend-area cooperative established in 1966) to produce corduroy pillow covers. Avocado
green corduroy was one of the five Sears colors.
Bending Geometry

The Work-Clothes Quilts

The Living Legacy of Dinah the Slave

Mother-in-Law / Daughter-in-Law

Housetops and Bricklayers: The Quilter's Building Code

Quilt making is a craft. The reason Gee’s Bend collection is in an art museum is because the collection has a
certain distinct aesthetic that is running through the works of the various quiltmakers. While you walk and
observe the quilts, you’ll realize that even though they are separate, there are separate themes and styles, there is
a artistic DNA common to them.

Meet the Quiltmakers

Sunday / Sep 30th / 2:00pm

Mary Lee Bendolph, Louisiana Bendolph, Loretta Bennett, and Nettie Young