Gee's Bend: Fiber Patterns Embedded in Memory

Annie Mae Young, Work-clothes quilt with center medallion of strips, 1976; denim, corduroy, synthetic blend; 108 by 76.5 inches.

Photo: Arthur Rothstein, Collection of the Library of Congress

The following videos offer a little window into the quilting community of Gee's Bend, Alabama:

The women refer to their quilts in two ways, the "fancy" quilts, which they thought were good enough to sell and the quilts they made for everyday use. When they were first discovered by the fiber art world, those utilitarian quilts, worn, faded and often neglected were the ones collectors coveted. The fancy quilts use patterns recognizable in mainstream quilting traditions while the everyday ones spring from individual inspiration and availability of materials. Here are some examples shown on the official Gee's Bend website:

Mary Lee Bendolph and Ruth P. Mosely Bricklayer

Lucy Witherspoon Housetop, 1985p

Allie Pettway, Housetop, 1970-1975

FiberArts Magazine also had a nice article with these images:

Jessie T. Pettway, Bars and string-pieced columns, 1950s;cotton; 95 by 76 inches.

This one was in the Austin Chronicle, but I couldn't find the info on it:

The quilts show a whole range of color choices, designs, and skill levels, but all have an organic feel to them that suggests a "design as you go" approach. They contrast sharply with traditional quilts where hand quilting skills are judged by number of stitches per square inch or where perfection is the goal. As described in the first video, many of these Alabama quilters will make a whole quilt out of what would normally be one block in a traditional quilt. Zooming into color and texture, they disassemble the pattern as if looking through a magnifying lens.

Most articles about Gee's Bend quilters make reference to parallels in the quilt designs to African textiles. Comparisons have also been made to abstract modern art. Do these women carry a subconscious memory of African patterns? Interviews with the women indicate that they do not have a large world view of what is available in the quilt world, but rather that the patterns simply appealed to their own inner sensibilities.

When I look at the quilts, I see some elements that can individually be found in many different traditions. As a group of textiles, they speak to a specific community bound by time and place which will not be replicated. Now that they have been "discovered", a certain loss of innocence is bound to happen, where function will be replaced by the desire to make saleable pieces or for recognition in the media. I don't know how this transformation will evolve over time, but change has been documented over and over again with individuals or communities who began humbly and then achieved international recognition. Will the women continue to allow spontaneity to dictate design? We cannot predict what will happen, but the African connection will surely present itself in a new way to these women who may carry those embedded patterns in their genes. Certainly, as they see others make the connections, they will also study themselves and their roots and perhaps make the connection even more pronounced. Most craft communities seem to end up with most of their members engaged in producing products for income generation. Then, a few of these blossom into something new, breaking boundaries and growing into the mentors, visionaries, and muses who will inspire the next generation.

We shall watch Gee's Bend and see how it evolves over the years. My gut tells me that we will continue to see objects of wonder grow out of this community, even as they evolve from the "naive" to the "expert".

Books on Gee's Bend available on Amazon:
(Click on the link below the image)

The Quilts of Gee's Bend: Masterpieces from a Lost Place

Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt

Mary Lee Bendolph, Gee's Bend Quilts, and Beyond

Gee's Bend: Fiber Patterns Embedded in Memory