Today's Quilter - UK (2020-05)

L

astmonth,Istartedmyjourney

southfromNashville on^

Route 28 heading to the Gee’s

BendQuiltingCollective^

in Alabama. After torrential rain and a slight detour,

I finally arrived in the small, remote hamlet of Boykin...

I’m sitting in the heart of the Gee’s Bend Quilting

Collective surrounded by quilts and photographs of

generations of quilters. Mary Ann Pettway, who heads up

the collective, is unpacking a small quilt that she’s been

working on while she was on the road, sharing the story of

her quilting community. She’s just finished hand quilting

three mini quilts in vibrant colours, the shapes remind me

of drawings of village farmland in England from a bygone

era – all ridges and furrows and narrow strips.

We have come to associate t h is abst ract, i mprov ised

style with the quilters of Gee’s Bend. Reading about the

discovery of these quiltmakers by art collector William

Arnett is one of those moments where you draw a sharp

intake of breath. Imagine the discovery of a quilt thrown

over a woodpile that, through the assemblage of scraps

of worn out denim and cotton, showed a profound

understanding of colour and composition. The recognition

that followed after Arnett’s discovery changed the lives of

this isolated community and, as Mary Ann recounts the

story, it comes across almost as a tale of divine intervention

Jane Rae continues her

trip south to^

meet the quiltmakers of Gee’s Bend

7KHGLDU\RIDWUDYHçLQJ

TXLOWHU

which has taken them from obscurity to the worldwide

arena of modern art. She tells me that after 20

years working in a clothing factory in Birmingham,

Alabama she made her first quilt in 2005; she now

supports her family through her quilt making and

finds the process of sitting quietly to stitch a deeply

spiritual experience.^

There is a stillness to Boykin, Alabama, as if the

course of life flows at a dierent pace, and it is such

a contrast to the noise and clamour of Nashville and

New Orleans (my next stop); the title of William

Arnett’s book The Quilts of Gee’s Bend: Masterpieces

from a Lost Place, seems all the more poignant.

Historians talk about their fascination with the

‘silences’ in history, and with the omissions that

emerge as we try to recreate the past. The quilters

of Gee’s Bend have certainly broken this silence by

revealing a community with a shared artistic language

and a tradition of quilt making that is deeply rooted in

their African American heritage. Thanks to Black Belt

Treasu res for a ll t hei r help i n mak i ng t h is t r ip possible

http://www.blackbelttreasures.com

http://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers

Left and below, Mary Ann Pettway,

quiltmaker and Director of the Gee’s

Bend Quilting Collective, showing her

signature quilt style.

ISSUE^60

ALABAMA

HOME