Tag Archive "gees-bend-quilts"
Personal history–Frank Bramblett on Gee’s Bend
Post by Frank Bramblett [Every time we see Frank Bramblett, we feel like we have been handed a gift. This time, we bumped into him at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Tuesday. We've known Frank since he had something to say to us the first year of artblog, and then we taught a class with him at Tyler. Sure enough, seeing him Tuesday was also a gift. But here's something he mailed to us shortly afterward. It is an amazing prezzie from him to us. And we are regifting it to you. Roberta and Libby] Gearldine Westbrook (American, b. 1919), ... More » »
Weekly Update – Outsider art at the PMA, Gees Bend quilts and James Castle
This week’s Weekly (online only) has my piece on the Gees Bend quilts and a preview of James Castle, both at the PMA (Castle opens Oct. 14. Below’s the copy with pictures. Two Gees Bend quilters sit in front of their quilts at the PMA’s press preview. Self-taught artists take over prime real estate at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this month. The Gee’s Bend quilters and the mute artist James Castle broke all kinds of art rules to make their powerful work. Amazing things happen when you don’t even know the rules exist. Sarah Benning in front of one ... More » »
Around and About: Gee’s Bend Quilters, Cecelia Condit and Kurt Schwitters
Ruth Kennedy Blocks and Stripes (2003) corduroy, 86 x 75in, the Tinwood Alliance The Evolution of Quilting and/in MuseumsGee’s Bend is a small and isolated African American community in Alabama most of whose population is descended from slaves who worked the local plantation.T he women of Gee’s Bend developed a repertory of quilting designs that may reflect the tradition of African textiles but has evolved into a recognizable local style; quilts from Gee’s Bend burst into the museum world in 2002 when the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFA Houston) organized an exhibition of their work that toured twelve museums ... More » »
Gees Bend Quilters in song at the PMA
1:12 sec. Ten Gees Bend quilters led us through their exhibit, Gees Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt” today at the PMA. Also on tap to help tell the story of the quilts and their discovery and importance were PMA Curator Dilys Blum and representatives of the Tinwood Alliance, the non-profit group that “discovered” the GB quilters and has helped organize exhibitions of their works. The traveling show — with 75 quilts, all of which are shown for the first time — is bigger than the groundbreaking 2002 exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston which traveled to the ... More » »
