PRESS PREVIEW
A press preview of the exhibition is scheduled for Tuesday, February 10, 2004,
from 10 am to noon. For more information, or to RSVP, please call the Corcoran’s
Communications Office at (202) 639-1703 or email PR@corcoran.org.
Washington, DC – With only a single road in and out of town, Gee’s
Bend is an isolated yet artistically gifted community. For nearly four generations,
the women of Gee’s Bend have created strikingly modern quilts from everyday
fabrics. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend celebrates that legacy and
demonstrates the artistry of these textiles. Michael Kimmelman, Chief Art Critic
of The New
York Times calls the quilts “some of the most miraculous works of modern
art that America has produced.” Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend is on view at the Corcoran
Gallery of Art from February 14 through May 17, 2004. This presentation of
the exhibition includes,
for the first time, a related installation of large-scale photographs of the
Gee’s Bend community over time.
“Though born out of the necessity to keep families warm, these quilts
are more than utilitarian objects; the women of Gee’s Bend tell their
personal stories through textiles,” comments Jacquelyn D. Serwer, Chief
Curator at the Corcoran. “The quilts’ modernist, abstract designs
transcend their humble origins to become important cultural markers and works
of art.”
Featuring 70 quilts dating from the 1930s to 2000, The Quilts of Gee’s
Bend includes quilts made from everyday fabrics: corduroy, denim, cotton sheets
and well-worn clothing. Most of the quilts are of the type known as piece,
strip or patchwork, yet their vibrant color schemes and abstract compositions
vary widely from the ordered regularity associated with traditional Western
quiltmaking. The exhibition includes quilts made by America Irby, Nettie Young,
Lucy T. Pettway, Polly Bennett, Lizzie Major, Arlonzia Pettway, Annie Mae Young,
Jessie T. Pettway, Leola Pettway, Linda Pettway, Loretta Pettway and Belinda
Pettway. In addition to the quilts, the exhibition wall text presents an in-depth
history of Gee’s Bend, excerpts from interviews with 30 quilters and
contemporary and historical photographs of the community, which was photographed
by Arthur Rothstein and Marion Post Wolcott for the Resettlement Administration
program in the 1930s. A 20-minute video on Gee’s Bend and its quilters
accompanies the exhibition.
Named after Joseph Gee, the first white man to stake a claim there in the
early 1800s, Gee’s Bend is an all-black community located in southwest
Alabama on a U-shaped sliver of land five miles long and eight miles wide,
bounded by a curve in the Alabama River. In 1845, the Gee family sold the plantation
to Mark Pettway 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.
Often women learned the craft from their mothers or grandmothers but the emphasis
was always on individuality and innovation. Today, only a few of the women
continue the quilting practice in 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. When Arnett uncovered this unique legacy of Southern
Alabama’s cultural heritage in 1997, many of the quilts had been stored
under mattresses and in closets and cupboards for years. Arnett first traveled
to the area in search of Annie Mae Young, whose picture he had seen in a magazine,
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.
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
The catalogue accompanying the exhibition, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend,
is illustrated with the quilts featured in the exhibition as well as 1930s
photographs of Gee’s Bend. It provides an historical overview of the
community, its people and their art-making style. A second book, Gee’s
Bend: The Women and Their Quilts, features illustrations of 350 quilts by
more than 100 quilters, first-person interviews and an in-depth history of
the community.
EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION & SPONSORSHIP
The Quilts of Gee's Bend has been organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
and Tinwood Alliance, Atlanta. The exhibition's presentation at the Corcoran
is supported by The President's Exhibition Fund and contributing sponsor
Hecht's. Related family programs have been made possible with the generous support of National Cooperative Bank, Target Stores, G Street Fabrics, and the Arlington Chapter of The Links, Inc.
RELATED PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition, Memory Quilts: Photographs
of Gee’s Bend by Arthur Rothstein and Marion Post Wolcott documents the
Gee’s Bend community during an economic transition that helped fuel
the proceeding period of productive and creative quilt-making. This exhibition
features thirty two photographs made in Gee’s Bend for the Farm Security
Administration (FSA) by documentary photographers Arthur Rothstein and Marion
Post Wolcott. In 1937, Rothstein was sent to Gee’s Bend to document
the daily hardships endured by this small community of African American tenant
farmers. These images, published in The New York Times and elsewhere, were
pivotal in rallying public awareness and congressional support to grant low-interest
loans to close to one hundred families. In 1939, Wolcott was assigned to
Gee’s Bend to follow-up on progress made as a result of government
programs during the preceding two years. Her photographs depict the Benders
in their new school, store, clinic and homes.
RELATED CORCORAN COLLEGE OF ART + DESIGN COURSE
For additional information, call (202) 639-1800
Design, Color & Critique for Quilters (PR144)
Wednesdays, 7 pm – 10 pm
1/21/04 – 5/12/04 (15 sessions)
H Street Campus, Room H-4
Patricia Autenrieth, Instructor
This course introduces experienced quiltmakers to the elements of visual thinking,
including compositional principles, color theory and critique. Students will
learn terminology, rudimentary critical methods and how to interpret visual
meaning in a formalist context particularly as it applies to the art of the
quilt.
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
For more information and a full schedule of events, visit www.corcoran.org
and click on education or call (202) 639-1727
Educator Workshop
Pieces of the Past: Art and Community
Saturday, February 14, 2004, 8:30 am – noon
$10 materials fee
Reservations Required; call (202) 639-1727
Participants in this special educators’ workshop will study the variety
of sources, designs, mediums and techniques characteristic of the long-standing
tradition of quilting in America. The exhibition, The Quilts of Gee’s
Bend, will be the focus of this exploration through guided tours, hands-on
activities and discussions with museum staff and local scholars. Both the program
and illustrated resource materials are designed to encourage interdisciplinary
curriculum connections and lesson plans on topics ranging from African American
history to geometry.
Sunday Traditions
Community Quilt
Sunday, February 22, 2004, 2:30 pm
$5 per child
Reservation Required; call (202) 639-1727
Young artists are invited to join us for this kick-off event celebrating The
Quilts of Gee’s Bend. Local artist Kathleen Manning will help you create
your own square for the Corcoran Community Quilt that will be displayed during
our Family Day Extravaganza! Sunday Traditions are monthly events designed
to encourage artful dialogue between children ages 5 – 10 and their adult
companions.
FAMILY DAY
Piecing It Together
Saturday, February 28, 2004, 10 am – 3 pm
FREE; No reservations required
Revel in the rich tradition of quilting in America with a FAMILY DAY that’s
so much fun, it will leave you in stitches. This all-day, all-ages, all-out
celebration for the entire DC community will include art-making workshops,
storytelling, live music, theatrical performances and family tours of the Corcoran’s
current exhibition, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend.
EXHIBITION ITINERARY
Following the presentation at the Corcoran, the exhibition will travel to the
Cleveland Museum of Art (June 12 – September 14, 2004), the Chrysler
Museum of Art, Norfolk (October 15, 2004 – January 2, 2005), the Memphis
Brooks Museum of Art (February 13 – May 8, 2005), the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston (June – August 2005) and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta
(December 2005 – February 2006).
ABOUT THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART
A privately funded institution, the Corcoran Gallery of Art was founded in
1869 as Washington’s first museum of art. It is known internationally
for its distinguished collection of historical and modern American art as
well as European painting, sculpture, photography and decorative arts. Founded
in 1890, Corcoran College of Art + Design is Washington’s only 4-year
college of art and design offering BFA degrees in Fine Arts, Graphic Design,
Digital Media Design, Photojournalism and Photography—and AFA degrees
in Fine Arts, Interior Design and Photography. The College’s Continuing
Education Program, which offers part-time credit and non-credit classes for
children and adults, draws more than 3,500 participants each year.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is located at New York Avenue and 17th Street,
NW, Washington, DC, and is open every day, except Tuesday, 10 am – 5
pm and until 9 pm on Thursday. The Corcoran is closed every Tuesday. Admission
to the Corcoran is: $6.75 for adults; $4.75 for senior citizens; $3 for students
with valid ID and Members’ guests; and $12 for families of any size. Free
for Members and children under 12. Admission is free on Monday and on Thursday
after 5 pm.The public information line for the museum is (202) 639-1700. The
information line for the college is (202) 639-1800.
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View images and further details from this exhibition
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CONTACT:
Kristin Guiter
Manager of Media Relations
(202) 639-1867,
kguiter@corcoran.org
Media Resources:
Curator Jacquelyn Days Serwer
Advance Exhibition Schedule
Archived
Press Releases
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