Bars and string-pieced columns (1950s) by Jessie T. PettwayOriginal Source: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Gee's Bend, Alabama, has long been renowned for creativity and resistance, thanks to the woven quilts which originated here in the early 1900s. The tradition continues to this day, and these iconic patterns even appeared in the official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama.
The quilts continue to be a source of power and inspiration for black artists today. Scroll on to meet some of the contemporary artists continuing the Gee's Bend legacy, and hear original poems in response to the quilts by Wisonsin laureate, Dasha Kelly Hamilton.
Bars And String-Pieced Columns
Dasha Kelly Hamilton responds to "Bars And String-Pieced Columns" by Jessie T. Pettway
Jessie T. Pettway (2000) by David RaccugliaSouls Grown Deep
Jessie T. Pettway
"My first quilt was a "Eight-Pointed Star." I kept it until I married and the children wore it out on the bed. I was about twelve when I started making quilts on my own. We mostly made string quilts out of old clothes and overalls we tore up for pieces."
"Housetop"—center medallion (c. 1975) by Gloria HoppinsOriginal Source: Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
"Housetop"—center medallion
Dasha Kelly Hamilton responds to Gloria Hoppins' '"Housetop"—center medallion"
Work-clothes quilt (2002) by Mary Lee BendolphOriginal Source: New Orleans Museum of Art, Museum Purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Work-clothes quilt
Dasha Kelly Hamilton on "Work-clothes quilt" by Mary Lee Bendolph
Mary Lee Bendolph (2019) by Stephen Pitkin, Pitkin StudioSouls Grown Deep
Gee's Bend quilter Mary Lee Bendolph
Bendolph has passed the quilting tradition down to her granddaughters, and her extraordinary skills are honored in an artwork by fellow Southern artist Thornton Dial.
String-pieced quilt (1960) by Loretta PettwaySouls Grown Deep
String-pieced quilt
Dasha Kelly Hamilton on "String-pieced Quilt" by Loretta Pettway
Loretta Pettway (2000) by David RaccugliaSouls Grown Deep
Loretta Pettway
"I helped Grandmama when I was little: thread the needle, cut the pieces, rip the pieces, pick them out for her, put them together. I first pieced a whole quilt when I was about eleven. My grandmama said, 'Just piece it up. I got to learn you how to do it.'"
Dasha Kelly Hamilton by Samer GhaniImagine MKE
Meet Dasha Kelly Hamilton
Learn more about Wisconsin's poet laureate and how she came to her craft.
Learn more about the Gee's Bend Quilters and other African American artists from the American South with the Souls Grown Deep Foundation.
