Showing posts with label women's art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women's art. Show all posts
The Quilting Women of Gee's Bend
I am not a quilter but something about quilting always captivates me. The patches of
fabrics of various patterns and colors, the handmade stitches, the “imperfect”
lines and shapes. In the culture where I was brought up, traditional Chinese
quilts are often used as a gift for newborns; friends and family are invited
to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the baby. They are called Bai
Jia Bei (in
translation "One Hundred Good Wishes Quil"t). The quilts contains symbols of luck, energy, and good wishes. They are to be passed down
from generation to generation, just like those in America.
One
particular kind of quilt that goes beyond passing the tradition is the one
made by the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. What strikes me about their quilts are their
artistic execution and the background story that gives rise to this unique
style. They are women with passion, struggle and solidarity--attributes that imbue their quilts, too.
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| Jessie T. Pettway, Untitled, c. 1950. Collection of the Tinwood Alliance. Image Credit: Smithsonian Magazine. |
Gee’s Bend
women lived in a small rural plantation community located in southwest Alabama. It is
virtually an island, surrounded by a bend in the Alabama River. Named after
Joseph Gee, the first white man to claim the land in early 19th
century, this plantation was later sold to Mark Pettway in 1845. The Gee’s Bend
residents who were descendants of the former Pettway plantation slaves remained in the area to live and work on the land after emancipation. In the 1940s, the residents eventually purchased the land from
the government. During the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, Gee’s Band people
lost their jobs and homes, and the ferry service that shuttled them to the outside world was shut down.
Isolated
geographically and experiencing poverty, the women of Gee’s Bend showed an
enormous level of passion and persistence in creating these quilts, even with extremely limited materials. From the sophisticated visual composition of color, pattern,
geometric shapes and layering, I see the power to transform ordinary
to extraordinary, and turn a necessity into a beautiful work of art.
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| Loretta Pettway, Untitled, 1960. Collection of the Tinwood Alliance. Image Credit: Smithsonian Magazine. |
Last August, I had the opportunity to visit the exhibition – Creation Story: Gee’s Bend Quilts and the Art of Thornton Dial at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee. I stood in front of the quilts in awe, feeling the presence of the Gee’s Bend women fighting against daily adversity and social oppression by making art together. I felt utterly empowered walking out from the exhibition. Gee’s Bend quilters use old clothing to make connection with other people and their own cultural heritage. One of the quilters, Louisiana P. Bendolph (born in 1960) considers her quilts to be an expression of her life experiences:
“There were three generations ahead of me making quilts, and we would sit and play under the quilts and would watch the needle going in and out of the fabric…This whole thing (quilting) has made feel such a strong connection back to my family. Part of me feels like I’m living in a dream and I’m going to wake up.” (Creation Story, 2012).
Reference:
Creation
Story: Gee’s Bend Quilts and the Art of Thornton Dial (2012). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt
University Press.
Sarah White: Chronicling Oman
Originally from United Kingdom but having resided in Oman for over half of her life, visual artist Sarah White’s work has evolved over time into a continuous narrative of her engagement with Oman, interweaving the colors, textures, history, and the cultural vibrancy of her environment into it.
Much of Sarah’s earlier work dealt with exploring Omani architectural spaces, focusing on minute architectural details and imbuing them with what has now become a characteristic kaleidoscopic, iridescent palette. Her interest in architecture and its surrounding environment has been a focal point of her work since her education at Canterbury College of Art, the University of the West of England, and the Royal College of Art. “During my art school years, my parents moved to Oman and I was inspired by the country’s traditional architecture and particularly the way in which people adapted to the harsh geographic conditions through their built environment,” she tells Her Blueprtint, adding that she then sought to record as much traditional Omani architecture as she could while learning about the shapes, textures, and colors of a country that had instantaneously fascinated her.
In her most recent exhibition, In Homage To (also featuring Omani artist Juma al Harthy), she focuses upon the historic 17th century castle of Jabreen, which has been an enduring presence in her work for over two decades. “My personal interpretation and emotional response to this historic space with all its aesthetic details and cultural significance forms the basis of the exhibition,” she describes.
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| A work from In Homage to Jabreen |
A glimpse into her large body of work reveals that the intense, microscopic focus that White places upon architectural detail, magnifying its beauty is similarly lavished upon Omani women’s clothing, which themselves are visual implosions of colors, patterns, and embellishments. “Omani women are very creative and their dresses are pieces of art in themselves,” she says.
The theme of adornment, whether through clothing or make-up, greatly interests White. "Our perceptions of our own beauty as human beings can be quite bizarre and women need make-up to alter themselves in order to fulfill their personal expectations of being beautiful," says White. "Make-up, therefore, becomes a vital accessory in addition to hair styles, shoes, and outfits.”
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