I remember visiting New York City and experiencing its layered texture and gray color. A huge number of people in a small space for centuries have left their patina of smoke and dust on every surface. Handbills layered endlessly on every available wall made impromptu collages. When I entered museums and galleries for the always main purpose of my visit, to see great art, I was struck by the number of 20th century pieces that reflected those surfaces outside. They were obviously made in the city, which has long been an artists’ mecca.
Later, I took another trip to a museum in coastal Virginia to see works by the famous quilters of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. The quilts were made mostly for home use, but they have become famous for their obvious roots in West African textile design, preserved by an isolated community of African slaves and passed on to their descendants.
The quilts were almost casually made, for practical reasons, but with roots in a distinctive type of design that the women of Gee’s Bend learned from their mothers and grandmothers and aunts. They grew up with patchwork quilts that repeated geometric designs originally produced by narrow looms. The quilts came from an organic process, not an academic tradition or formal instruction. They came from an environment with fresh, bright colors, not automobile exhaust and building dust.
There was a quilt in the collection, however, made of material with a faded patina and rough surface, namely the work pants of a man who obviously did hard physical labor. For me, it was the most impressive quilt in the collection, although I did love the vibrant colors and neater designs of the other quilts. This quilt, by Lutisha Pettway, was rough, but it embodied history and emotion and spoke of the life of the family it came from. The maker said that she made it when her husband passed away, so that she could wrap herself in his love. She cut the pants legs apart and arranged the pieces so they formed a large rectangle. The resulting design was simple and rhythmic. The stained, worn, and faded denim had a surface interesting enough for any abstract expressionist, but this surface told a life story.
Unlike the paintings in the Museum of Modern Art, this artwork didn’t compete for status and money, this artwork spoke sincerely of life and emotion. It embodied the economic struggle of a family and their day-to-day labor, and a wife’s grief.
Pettway lacked academic training and credentials, however, her work’s emotional power was greater than that of any I saw in New York. I know that statement would make most (maybe all) of my university art professors dismiss everything I have said. Their prejudice kept them from seeing the art in the work of females, minorities, or anyone without a university degree.
I still love the museums. So much beautiful and inspiring art is to be seen in them. After all, it was museums and galleries where quilts were finally hung as works of art and treated with respect.
Copyright 2018 by Glenda Alexander. All Rights Reserved.
See a variety of “work-clothes” quilts here:
8 N. C. Families 