Interwoven Histories: Prints by the Gee’s Bend Quilt Collective

This exhibition presented an acquired selection of prints made by members of the Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective displaying the intricate and unique quiltmaking designs and techniques taught through generations of women located in Boykin (aka “Gee’s Bend”), Alabama. Residents in Gee’s Bend are direct descendants of enslaved people who worked on the plantation owned by Joseph Gee and later Mark Pettway, producing cotton and vegetables. Following the Civil War, their descendants stayed on the land to continue sharecropping, and eventually, acquired land to carry on farming. Such settling in Gee’s Bend allowed cultural traditions, such as quilting, to be preserved and respected by the community.

Support for In the Spotlight is provided by Mary Ellen Weisl Rudolph ’61, P ’98 and James N. Rudolph P ’98.

Many Gee’s Bend quilters, including those featured in this exhibition, have partnered with Paulson Fontaine Press in Berkeley, California to create large-sale, colorful prints that replicate the original quilts and transform their vibrant patterns into a different medium – one that is reproducible and therefore accessible to a larger audience. The Loeb acquired the three prints on view as well as three others in 2019 to mark the 50th anniversary of Vassar’s Africana Studies Department. This is the first time a group of these works have been shown together at the Loeb, cultivating a greater sense of unity and connection between the styles, which is in turn reflective of the communal practice of quiltmaking in Gee’s Bend. Thought provoking and ornate, these quilts provide insight into the complex lives of the women and those that share the experiences depicted.

Organized by Tenesha Carter Johnson, Spelman College Class of 2024 and Loeb Summer Curatorial Intern. Support for In the Spotlight is provided by Mary Ellen Weisl Rudolph ’61, P’98 and James N. Rudolph P’98.