Gee’s Bend Quilters Essay

Ian Purinton

10/19/2025

Introduction

            The Gee’s Bend Quilters have made a name for themselves due to their incredible and unique art form. After being made aware to the public in 2002, this group of women inspired many with their story of hardship and their beautiful quilt-making skills. The quilters have had an extensive history, but have been able to use their generational tradition to push through times of stress and conflict. The quilts consist of very asymmetrical designs that are unique to the Gee’s Bend community, although some quilters aren’t afraid to make very symmetrical patterns as well. These unique designs are partially due to the materials used in the quilts, some of which include repurposed clothes. Overall, the Gee’s Bend Quilters have a very fascinating story of surviving hardships and strengthening their community, all while upholding a powerful tradition of quilt making.

Gee’s Bend: A Brief History

            The Gee’s Bend Quilters are a group of quilters from Boykin, Alabama (also known as Gee’s Bend) who are known for creating wonderful, collaborative, and colorful quilts. However, the origins of this tradition span many years of unfortunate turmoil. The name Gee’s Bend comes from a North Carolina enslaver named Joseph Gee, who established his plantation with seventeen slaves. Gee’s family owned the farm until he eventually gave ownership to a relative named Mark H. Pettway, whose name can still be found in many members of the community today. Throughout the community, a tradition of making quilts had arisen, with techniques and styles unknowingly taking shape. Not yet recognized as an art style and more of a creative pastime, this tradition would become critical to the women of Gee’s Bend. Following the Civil War, formerly enslaved people could start cultivating their own land, which came at the cost of them only being granted a certain amount of the crops they were harvesting. This unfortunate system would persist for years as ownership of the Pettway plantation would constantly change. Cotton prices began to fall during the Great Depression of the 1920s, and constant issues arising from this period of economic decline forced the community into a state of destitution. It was not until Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Resettlement Administration in 1935 that the community began to rebuild itself, which helped them claim the land that had once belonged to their enslaved forebears. During the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. would visit the Gee’s Bend community during the Civil Rights Movement, inspiring some of the women to join the movement for support. Despite this troublesome and extensive history, the art of quilt making managed to survive. It is incredibly inspirational that despite everything the community of Gee’s Bend had to endure, they managed to uphold this tradition for five generations, even continuing to this day.

The Artform Explained

            The Gee’s Bend Quilts are a very distinct series of quilts that follow very few rules and do not abide by strict patterns. These designs were actually unique to Gee’s Bend, as quilts of this variety had actually not been seen before. Quilt maker Willie Abrams displays a large pallet of colors in her quilts, ranging from reds, greens, and blues to grays, blacks, and browns. Seen in her quilts (along with many others) there are many different lines of material sewn together in striped patterns, all of which are scattered across the quilt. These asymmetrical designs are a staple of the Gee’s Bend Quilts, and can be seen in the works of many other artists, such as Mary Lee Bendolph, Amelia Bennett, and Loretta Pettway Bennett. Some quilters such as Sarah Benning have actually experimented with symmetrical designs that follow specific patterns. Notably, one of Benning’s pieces uses consistent blue and pink circular dots across a magenta background. This deviation shows that the quilts have a very broad range of styles that can be used. One of the styles often seen in the quilts is the pinwheel style, which uses asymmetrical, square-like box patterns to form various right angles and “L” shapes. This style is seen in many of the quilter’s pieces, and is seemingly a very popular design choice. Another style is the housetop style, which features many square shapes slowly shrinking towards the center of the quilt. While it may come off as a misnomer at first, looking at the piece as if you are in a top-down perspective actually reveals an almost pyramid-like shape. I really like this style, as it not only plays with your perspective, but it incorporates some of the more visually striking mixes of color. Taking the idea of pyramid-like shapes to the next step is the bricklayer style, which is a style that remains very true to its name. This type of quilt has many stacked rectangles that slowly escalate to a point, giving the quilt the appearance of a wall made of bricks. Some examples even have two of these pyramid shapes, with one starting on the bottom and the other starting at the top as the points meet in the center. All of these different styles are fascinating and showcase the true creativity of the Gee’s Bend Community.

I find it very special that despite the creation of various styles and designs that get used in the quilts, there is no stress over being perfectly symmetrical. The quilts are often referred to as “my way” quilts, which essentially means that the quilts are personalized by the artist to be whatever they see fit. The quilter may start with a basic form, but as she stitches, she may find that the quilt is going in a very unexpected direction. I really appreciate that the quilts do not have to strictly be made one way or another, as this add a very personal element to the pieces.

Importance of the Quilts

            Originally, the quilting process was not seen as an artform. The quilts functionally served the purpose of keeping people warm, specifically during harsh winter conditions. Despite not being viewed as an artform, the Gee’s Bend Quilters would experiment with the various designs and unique patterns in order to make more creative quilts overall. Along with having the physical function of keeping people warm during harsh winters, the quilts serve a purpose to the community as well. The textiles evoke many strong emotions due to them being the physical form of the stories told by the community. As I mentioned before, the quilts are referred to as “my way” quilts, which means that they are made uniquely by the quilter. This element of personality added to the quilts gives them so much more emotion, as it truly feels as if it is the product of the community and the stories they have. The community of Gee’s Bend has a very large history of struggles and hardship, so I think that it is inspiring that the women of the community were able to keep this tradition alive for so long. The knowledge and tradition of the quilts has been passed down for five generations, fully entrenching itself within the history of Gee’s Bend. The powerful history and emotions found within the quilts can even be seen within the very materials that they are comprised of.

Materials Used in the Quilts

            Contrasting with the complex history of the Gee’s Bend community, the quilts are simply comprised of very few materials. Various types of fabrics are often used to create the quilts, but this practice came after many years of using materials like denim. It was very common for the quilts to be made up of old clothes that were no longer needed for use. This act of repurposing old clothes into something new is a very good technique, as it eliminates potential waste. This technique also has a spiritual function to it, as clothes of deceased family and community members are used in quilts. Repurposing the clothes of people who are no longer around is a very beautiful way of commemorating them, especially as the quilts are already meant to invoke emotions through their unique designs. The continued usage of repurposed clothes helps to contribute to the quilts’ already asymmetrical designs.

Conclusion

            In 2002, the Gee’s Bend Quilters would be recognized as a community of talented women who upheld the tradition of creating unique quilts for over four generations. One of the most important things to take away from this tradition is the fact that it survived. The quilters of Gee’s Bend have truly mastered their craft and made an incredible work of art. After surviving much hardship throughout history, the tradition of quilt making never vanished, and was able to persist until this very day. The quilts utilize a very distinctive series of asymmetrical patterns that encompass the large majority of the pieces, and this push for “my way” designs have made the quilts very personalized. It is this personality that allows the quilts to tell the stories of the Gee’s Bend Community and evoke all the emotion that its people carry. This dedicated group of women have stood the test of time and passed down a truly wonderous art form throughout the generations, all while continuing to inspire with their colorful quilts.

Works Cited

Bend, Visit Gee’s. “Visit Gee’s Bend.” Visit Gee’s Bend, 2024, www.geesbend.org/.

Gross, Rebecca. “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend: A Slideshow.” Www.arts.gov, 1 Oct. 2015, www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2015/quilts-gees-bend-slideshow.

Souls Grown Deep. “Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers | Souls Grown Deep Foundation.” Www.soulsgrowndeep.org, Souls Grown Deep, www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers.

‌“The Quilts of Gee’s Bend.” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 2025, www.mfa.org/exhibitions/quilts-gees-bend.

‌“The Gee’s Bend Quilt Collective: A Story of the South.” AWARE Women Artists / Femmes Artistes, https://awarewomenartists.com/en/magazine/le-gees-bend-quilt-collective-une-histoire-du-sud-des-etats-unis/.