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Gee´s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt
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On view through September 4, 2006 at the Audrey Jones Beck Building
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Mary Lee Bendolph, Blocks, strips, strings, and half squares, 2005
Collection of the Tinwood Alliance
Photo: Stephen Pitkin, Pitkin Studio, Rockford, Il.
Gee´s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt examines the resurgence of interest in quilting in the community of Gee´s Bend, Alabama, and documents the development of key traditional quilt patterns—housetop, court-house steps, flying geese, and strip quilting—through the presentation of outstanding examples created from the 1930s into the 21st century.
"The women of Gee´s Bend are at long last getting the recognition they deserve as artists, and that is especially gratifying to the museum," said Peter C. Marzio, director of the MFAH. "Their command of materials and design is genius; their body of work, further distinguished by its historical and cultural significance, is clearly a facet of contemporary American art. With Gee´s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt, the museum hopes to bring this story to those who have not yet seen it and to deepen the appreciation of those who have."
"Women in Gee´s Bend learned the craft of quilting from their mothers and grandmothers," said Alvia J. Wardlaw, MFAH curator of modern and contemporary art, who organized the exhibition. "It was a skill born of necessity and make-do conditions, but they transformed quilt making — this chore — into the highest form of artistic expression, where innovation and individuality were prized. Gee´s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt explores how the artists improvised on certain traditional motifs and traces the family quilting lineage of some master quilters."
The 70 quilts in the exhibition, none previously presented to the public, demonstrate how the quilters improvise upon the structure or "architecture" of the quilt to create a work of art that is based upon a traditional quilt pattern while simultaneously creating a visual vocabulary that is stylistically identifiable as Gee´s Bend. Each pattern is examined with visual examples detailing various interpretations. New works by granddaughters and great-granddaughters of some of the master quilt makers are on view, along with quilts not previously exhibited by quilt makers Mary Lee Bendolph and Mary L. Bennett.
Catalogue
Accompanying the exhibition is an extensive catalogue by Bernard Herman, director of the Center for American Material Culture Studies at the University of Delaware. In his catalogue essay, Herman compares the works in the exhibition to the structured compositions of both Piet Mondrian and Esther Mahlangu, a Ndebele house painter from South Africa. Other catalogue contributors include Lauren Whitley, Dilys Blum, Diane Mott, Joanne Cubbs, and Maggie Gordon.
Tour Schedule
After Gee´s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt closes at the MFAH, it will embark on a tour of the following museums:
•Indianapolis Museum of Art, October 8 — December 31, 2006
•Orlando Museum of Art, January 28 — May 13, 2007
•The Walters Art Museum, June 17 — August 26, 2007
•Tacoma Art Museum, September 22 — December 9, 2007
•The Speed Art Museum, January 2 — March 23, 2008
•Denver Museum of Art, April 13 — July 6, 2008
•Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 14 — December 14, 2008
About Gee´s Bend
The quilts in the exhibition are drawn from the collection of Tinwood Alliance, a non-profit foundation for the support of African-American vernacular art, founded by William Arnett. Arnett first traveled to the area in 1997 in search of Annie Mae Young, whose picture he had seen in Roland Freeman´s book on African-American quilters, Communion of the Spirit, along with her quilt. Young pointed him to Gee´s Bend, a community of about 750 residents isolated on a U-shaped sliver of land on the Alabama River. Lacking ferry service, Benders, as residents are called, are an hour´s drive from the county seat of Camden, the closest source of supplies, schools, and medical services. Geographically isolated, the women in the community created quilts from whatever materials were available, in patterns of their own imaginative design.
Gee´s Bend was named after Joseph Gee, the first white man to stake a claim there in the early 1800s. The Gee family sold the plantation to Mark Pettway in 1845 and most present-day residents are descendants of slaves on the former Pettway plantation. Their forebears continued to work the land as tenant farmers after emancipation, and many eventually bought the farms from the government in the 1940s.
Gee´s Bend became known for its quilts, briefly, during the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-1960s when the Freedom Quilting Bee was organized. Many quilters in the community represent second-generation quilting within a family.
Special MFAH Recommendation: Books & Documents Related to The Quilts of Gee´s Bend
This exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Tinwood Alliance, Atlanta.
Generous funding in Houston is provided by:
H-E-B
The James R. Crane Foundation
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
Beth Robertson
Yava and Milton Scott
Transportation for this exhibition is provided by EGL Eagle Global Logistics.
Related Events:
Gee´s Bend Flute Concert
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Saturday, July 1, 2006 2:00 PM
African American Art Advisory Association (Five-A) Gala: A Tribute to the Women of Gee´s Bend
At the Caroline Wiess Law Building
Friday, June 2, 2006 7:00 PM - 12:01 AM
Book Signing with the Artists from Gee´s Bend
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Saturday, June 3, 2006 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Daytime Preview for All Members
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Saturday, June 3, 2006 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Explore the MFAH: Gee´s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Saturday, June 10, 2006 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Saturday, June 17, 2006 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Saturday, June 24, 2006 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Saturday, July 1, 2006 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Saturday, July 8, 2006 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Saturday, July 15, 2006 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Saturday, July 22, 2006 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Saturday, July 29, 2006 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Lunchtime Tours at the MFAH: Gee´s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Thursday, July 6, 2006 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Thursday, July 13, 2006 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Thursday, July 20, 2006 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Thursday, July 27, 2006 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Lunchtime Tours at the MFAH: Gee´s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Thursday, June 8, 2006 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Thursday, June 15, 2006 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Thursday, June 22, 2006 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Thursday, June 29, 2006 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Meet the Artists Event for MFAH Members at the Supporting, Sponsor, and Benefactor Levels
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Saturday, June 3, 2006 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Members Preview Ceremony
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Saturday, June 3, 2006 6:00 PM
Preview Party for All Members
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Saturday, June 3, 2006 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Special Report on Channel 13: Soulful Stitches
At the General Museum Info
Sunday, July 16, 2006 11:00 AM
Starbucks Mixed Media Music Series at the MFAH
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Saturday, June 10, 2006 8:00 PM - 12:01 AM
Saturday, July 8, 2006 8:00 PM - 12:01 AM
Saturday, August 12, 2006 8:00 PM - 12:01 AM
Summer Program - Teacher Workshop: The Architecture of Gee´s Bend Quilts - CLOSED
At the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Thursday, June 15, 2006 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
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Suggested gifts from the MFAH Shops:
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