In March 2022, Athens-based artist Broderick Flanigan announced the completion of a mural honoring the Gee’s Bend Quilters at Howard B. Stroud Elementary School(opens in new tab).
The Gee’s Bend Quilters are a group of women renowned for their skill in quilt-making living in and around the hamlet of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Many of the original inhabitants of Gee’s Bend, also known as Boykin, trace their roots back to enslaved peoples from the Pettaway Plantation. The tradition of quilt-making arose in the postbellum years out of necessity, as Gee’s Bend lacked heating, electricity and running water for much of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Gee’s Bend’s rich history played a significant hand in shaping the creative traditions born in the area. Known for their bright colors, simple geometric layouts and unique minimalism, the quilts of Gee’s Bend take influence from the presence of Native American tribes and traditional African textile work. Additionally, the isolation of the town led quilters to use recycled material, such as old clothing or rags.
Descendants of the original Gee’s Bend Quilters have kept the tradition alive and thriving. In 2015, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded quilters Mary Lee Bendolph, Lucy Mingo and Loretta Pettaway a National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor for folk and traditional arts. Gee’s Bend’s quilts were first recognized nationally in the early 1960s, when quilters participated in the Freedom Quilting Bee as a means of generating income for the community. Since then, the quilts have been displayed in museums across the country, including the Georgia Museum of Art, which presented an exhibition of Bendolph’s work in 2019.
Flanigan’s mural was inspired by the innovation and tenacity of these women. After getting the chance to meet some of the quilters, Flanigan said in a Facebook post announcing the mural that he drew influence from their “powerful stories of community and collaboration.”
The quilt depicted in the mural features art done by 3rd and 4th-grade students at the school, who jumped at the chance to “symbolically and figuratively [add] their piece to the project, much like the collective quilters of Gee’s Bend would sometimes come together to work on large quilts.”
The legacy of the Gee’s Bend Quilters is rich with history and stories of hope, community and creativity. To learn more about the mural created in their honor (which also highlights the work of Athenian Harriet Powers and contemporary artist Bisa Butler), visit Flanigan’s Portrait Studio on Facebook.
Authored by:
Josie Lipton
