The Gee's Bend Quiltmakers!
In episode\xa056 of The Great Women Artists Podcast, Katy Hessel interviews Loretta Pettway Bennett and Mary Margaret Pettway of the GEE'S BEND QUILTMAKERS! \n\n[This episode is brought to you by Alighieri jewellery: www.alighieri.co.uk | use the code TGWA at checkout for 10% off!]\n\nLocated in a small, remote and rural community in Alabama, USA, officially known as Boykin, which is surrounded on three sides by river and has a population of around 700, the women of Gee\u2019s Bend have been creating hundreds of quilt masterpieces dating from the early twentieth century to the present day. \n\nElectric, off-beat, full of flair, as well as both vivid and vibrant, for decades, the women of Gee\u2019s Bend have adopted a wide range of material for their improvisatory, jazzy and geometric quilts. From denim to old patterned clothes, which they have referred to as, making something shine from something that has been thrown away.\xa0\n\nOften quilting - and singing - in groups as they configure their stunning works, some of the women of Gee\u2019s Bend are in the collection of 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, of which our guest and quilter extraordinaire, Mary Margaret Pettway is chair.\xa0\n\nAlthough having been quilting for decades, with some claiming the tradition stemming from the 1800s, it has only been in recent years that the women have come to international renown and attention, exhibiting at major museums all over the world, from the Whitney Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, New York\u2019s The Met, Margate\u2019s Turner Contemporary, and now, their first ever solo exhibition in my hometown of London at Alison Jacques Gallery, which shows quilts spanning nearly 100 years. \n\nI should add that our guests today are first cousins, who come from an important lineage of female quilters and are showing alongside three generations worth of ancestors.\xa0\n\nDescribed by the New York Times as having created some of \u201cthe most miraculous works of modern art America has produced\u201d, the women of Gee\u2019s Bend are rightfully forcing us to readdress the art historical canon, and I couldn\u2019t be more delighted to have them on the show today.\xa0\n\nENJOY!!! FURTHER LINKS!\n\nThe Gee's Bend website!\xa0\nhttps://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers\nTheir show at Alison Jacques Gallery (don't miss if you're in London!)\nhttps://www.alisonjacquesgallery.com/exhibitions/192/overview/\n\nMore:\xa0\nhttps://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/29/arts/art-review-jazzy-geometry-cool-quilters.html\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHEqYVzSs7U\n\nFollow us:\nKaty Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel\nSound editing by Laura Hendry\xa0\nArtwork by @thisisaliceskinner\nMusic by Ben Wetherfield\n\nhttps://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/