Currently not on view
Currently not on view
The women of Gee’s Bend, a small rural Black community in Alabama of about seven hundred residents, have been creating bold, visually distinctive quilts since at least the 1920s.
The denim work-clothes quilts of Gee’s Bend were ideal for chilly weather. The fabrics frequently retain evidence of their original use, including pockets and areas of wear and stains. Mary Lee Bendolph is one of the quilters who continue the local tradition of upcycling cast-offs into new forms.
Currently not on view
| Title: | Work-Clothes Quilt |
| Date: | 2002 |
| Artist: | Mary Lee Bendolph (American, born 1935) |
| Medium: | Pieced and hand-quilted cotton plain weave and denim twill |
| Dimensions: | 7 feet 4 inches × 6 feet 2 inches (223.5 × 188 cm) |
| Classification: | Textiles |
| Credit Line: | Purchased with the Phoebe W. Haas Fund for Costume and Textiles, and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection, 2017 |
| Accession Number: | 2017-229-3 |
| Geography: | Made in Gee's Bend, Boykin, Wilcox, Alabama, United States, North and Central America |
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Currently not on view