Object number2019.24.5

Lazy Gal

Date2006

Artist Loretta Pettway (American, born 1942)

CultureAmerican

MediumSoft-ground etching and spit-bite aquatint on Somerset white textured paper

EditionEdition 22 of 50

DimensionsPlate: 29 1/4 x 23 3/4 in. (74.3 x 60.3 cm)
Sheet: 39 x 33 3/4 in. (99.1 x 85.7 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, Betsy Mudge Wilson, class of 1956, Memorial Fund in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Africana Studies Program

On View

Not on view

Period21st c

Classification(s)

SignedOn recto, signed lower right margin in pencil: Loretta Pettway

InscribedOn recto, by artist, lower right margin in pencil: 2006; lower center margin: Lazy Gal; lower left margin: 22/50

MarkingsOn recto, embossed with Paulson Fontaine's printer's chop in lower right margin corner

Provenancepurchased from Paulson Fontaine Press

Vassar Exhibitions

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

Exhibition HistoryInterwoven Histories: Prints by the Gee's Bend Quilting Collective, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, September 9 2023 - January 28, 2024

Label TextLoretta Pettway, member of the Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective, is known for not liking quiltmaking at an early age. Although influenced by many quiltmaking women around her, such as Quinnie, Missouri, and Plumber T. Pettway, she was forced to make them out of necessity, as she describes: “My grandmama, Prissy Pettway, told me, ‘You better make quilts. You going to need them.’ I said, ‘I ain't going to need no quilts.’ But when I got me a house, a raggly old house, then I needed them to keep warm. We only had heat in the living room, and when you go out of that room you need cover.” Despite her hesitancy, Loretta uses her practice to recount memories of struggle and triumphs that support her healing, and, transversely, those that come across her work. Loretta, like several other quilters, partnered with masterprinters at Paulson Fontaine Press to convert the linear pattern of textured fabrics into an abstract composition in ink on paper.

DescriptionTextured looking square and rectangular of blue, white, black, tan, and red vertical strips arranged side-by-side in a rectangle.

Terms

quilting

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu