There are no theaters in Gee’s Bend, no museums to visit, or even historic buildings to admire. It is dotted with modest homes and a few churches but no school. The isolated Alabama community, home to 230 people on 2.6 square miles, is surrounded on three sides by the Alabama River and most easily accessed by ferry.
But this unassuming community in Wilcox County is known as one of Alabama’s most important cultural centers thanks to the artistry of its citizens. The unique quilting style of a group of residents has been recognized as an important form of folk art. Many of the quilts are now exhibited in museums across the nation.
In an article for the Encyclopedia of Alabama, Auburn University’s Kyes Stevens wrote: “Although beset by the same poverty and economic underdevelopment that characterize other sections of western Alabama, Gee’s Bend has demonstrated a persistent cultural wealth in the vibrant folk art of its quilt makers, whose work has gained national attention and critical acclaim.”
Named for the original plantation owner, Joseph Gee, and its location on a horseshoe-shaped bend in the Alabama River, Gee’s Bend was established in 1816 and the crops worked by enslaved people. The land was later tended by poor tenant farmers using oxen and, in the 1930s, it was operated by the Resettlement Administration and residents received agriculture loans and funds from the federal government to build a school and sawmill. A post office was established in 1949 and the community was renamed Boykin, although most people continued to refer to it as Gee’s Bend.
The community is now a destination for art lovers and people wanting to learn to make the exquisite, colorfully patterned quilts. They can be purchased at the Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective, which also sponsors quilting retreats. Several week-long retreats were planned into 2021 but COVID-19 led to some postponements. Check the website for details.
The Quilting Collective, run by Mary Ann Pettway, is open by appointment only. Call Pettway at 334-573-2323 or 334-573-2585.
The Quilting Collective’s website explains that “The women in the community created quilts as a means of supporting their families. These quilts were made using whatever materials were available. This group of ladies developed a distinctive, bold, and sophisticated quilting style based on traditional American (and African American) quilts, but with a geometric simplicity reminiscent of Amish quilts and modern art. The women of Gee’s Bend have passed their skills down through at least six generations and the tradition continues.”
Gee’s Bend quilts have been displayed in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, according to RuralSWAlabama.org. The folk art has been featured in Newsweek, National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation, Art in America, CBS News Sunday Morning, PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, the Martha Stewart Living television show, House and Garden, Oprah’s O magazine, and Country Home magazine and, in August of 2006, on a series of postage stamps.