Last week we featured an exhibit of Gee's Bend quilts that were on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In the same gallery was a collection of furniture covered with digitally reproduced designs of those quilts. Learn about this exclusive furniture collection celebrating the work of Mary Lee Bendolph, Delia Bennett, Annie E. Pettway, Loretta Petway, and Magdalene Wilson of Gee's Bend.
The Quilt Show recently visited Philadelphia and ran across this exhibit featuring the quilts of Gee's Bend at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (there through July 7, 2024) that we wanted to share with you. Of the quilts on display, the museum said, "The 13 quilts on view were acquired in 2017 through the Souls Grown Deep Foundation and were selected to tell the history of quilt-making in Gee's Bend (Alabama) from the mid-1920s to 2005. The significance of these quilts to their makers is expressed in the quilters' own words gathered from contemporary interviews."
Kristin, our marketing director here at The Quilt Show, recently came across an interesting website called the Classic Rug Collection, Inc. where certain designs caught her eye.
The women of Gee's Bend, Alabama have produced some amazing quilts over the years and now even Amazon has taken notice. In their 2022 Amazon Fashion Gift Guide they are featuring six women from Gee's Bend in a fashion photo shoot.
Gee's Bend quilters and quilts have become synonymous with quilting excellence. Now they're becoming quite well known in another textile industry, the fashion world, and are garnering acclaim again across the world wide web. "With support from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation, the quilters now have sold-out Etsy shops and collaborations with high-profile fashion designers." Find out how these amazing quilters have branched out and introduced their work to a whole new generation. (Photo Credit: Greg Lauren)
On Friday we featured a segment on how to turn a hoodie into a quilt. Well now Greg Lauren and the quilters have Gee's Bend have taken that concept up a notch an designed a whole collection of clothes using their quilts as the basis. "Mosaic : Gee’s Bend and Greg Lauren, is a collaboration between 14 quilters from Gee's Bend and Greg Lauren, celebrating the ingenious artwork by the women of this community." (Photo from Greg Lauren website)