The Gee's Bend Quiltmakers at Alison Jacques Gallery, London
One of the things I’m missing most about lockdown in the UK is not being able to visit exhibitions and galleries to feed my creativity! I really wish I’d made time to visit Alison Jacques Gallery in London before the latest closures of non-essential businesses.
Currently on show is a retrospective of quilts from the renowned quilters of Gee’s Bend in Alabama. This is the first solo exhibition in Europe of three generations of women quilters, spanning nearly 100 years, from the remote black community of Gee’s Bend (officially named Boykin), located within the U-shaped meander of the Alabama River, cut-off from the rest of the area by its geography. “When you can sit in a place, and everybody be lovely - no fussing, no killing. To me, this don’t even seem like the USA.” says Mary Lee Bendolph, quilter, in the Pulitzer Prize-winning article ‘Crossing Over’, detailing the community’s efforts to re-establish the Alabama River ferry service.
Candis Mosely Pettway - Coat of Many Colors (quilting bee name), 1970, Cotton and cotton/polyester blend 200.7 x 170.2 cm, 79 x 67 ins
Courtesy Souls Grown Deep Foundation and Alison Jacques Gallery, London © Candis Pettway
Surrounded on three sides by water, the Alabama River ferry service was suspended in 1967 by the white community of Camden on the other side of the water, wishing to prevent “Benders” from voting in an early example of American voter suppression (the ferry was reinstated In 2006). The isolation of Gee’s Bend has fostered a unique artistic and experimental approach to quilt-making here. Processes and compositions have been passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter over generations; indeed, inherited knowledge is apparent in quilts on show from several generations of the same families. A 1930s quilt by Annie E. Pettway (1904–1972) is shown alongside one by her granddaughter, Rita Mae Pettway (b. 1941); a 1970s quilt by Candis Mosely Pettway (1924-1997) is displayed with a piece from her daughter, Quinnie Pettway (1943-2010), and her granddaughter, Loretta Pettway Bennett (b. 1960).
A lack of exposure to fine art and folk art have enabled the quilt makers to create a textile language uninhibited by the conventions of others, brought to life in the compositions, bold patterns and asymmetry. The makers use terms such as ‘Abstraction & Improvisation’ or ‘My Way’, ‘Pattern & Geometry’, ‘Housetop & Bricklayer’, ‘Lazy Gal’ and ‘Work Clothes’ to classify their work. The quilts were celebrated in an article by Michael Kimmelman in The New York Times in 2002 in which he identified them as “some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced."
Essie Bendolph Pettway Two-sided quilt: Blocks and 'One Patch' - stacked squares and rectangles variation, 1973 Cotton, polyester knit, denim 223.5 x 203.2 cm, 88 x 80 ins
Courtesy Souls Grown Deep Foundation and Alison Jacques Gallery, London © Essie Bendolph Pettway / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London
Of course, the quilts were not created simply as a way to pass leisure time, but out of necessity, and the ingrained belief that nothing should go to waste. Winter nights can be cold in Gee’s Bend, and their primary use is as covers for children’s beds, created by stitching together remnants of waste fabric, scraps of worn work-clothing complete with stains, tears and fading, even deceased family member’s clothing. Artistic endeavour has always been a consideration, however, and every Spring the women air their quilts outside in public, an opportunity for them to admire and take inspiration from one another’s work.
The residents of Gee’s Bend are almost all descendants of slaves who worked on the original Pettway plantation, and many bear the slaveowner’s name to this day. During the Civil Rights Movement, the community gained national recognition when they established the Freedom Quilting Bee collaborative and distributed their quilts across the country. Mary Lee, whose daughter Essie Bendolph Pettway presents a work from 1973 in the exhibition, is still quilting today.
Ethel Young 'Crosscut Saw' - (quiltmaker's name) - five diamond-pieced rows with bars, c. 1970, Cotton 182.9 x 177.8 cm, 72 x 70 ins
Courtesy Souls Grown Deep Foundation and Alison Jacques Gallery, London © Ethel Young
Visit the Alison Jacques Gallery website to watch the award-winning film “The Quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend” 2005, by Celia Carey until 18 January, and register for a live virtual talk with Gee’s Bend artists Loretta Pettway Bennett and Mary Margaret Pettway, in conversation with Raina Lampkins-Fielder, curator of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, which will be given on Tuesday 19 January 6-7pm GMT. In the absence of in-person visits, you can also take a walk-through of the exhibition online, and read the Pulitzer Prize-winning article ‘Crossing Over’, detailing the community’s efforts to re-establish the Alabama River ferry service.
The show runs until 6 February, and is organised in partnership with the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the contributions of African American artists from the Southern states.
Stella Mae Pettway Big Wheel, 1986 Double knit, cotton and polyester 218.4 x 193 cm, 86 x 76 ins
Courtesy the Artist and Alison Jacques Gallery, London © Stella Mae Pettway / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London