Thursday, June 19, 2008

Gee's Bend Quilts - Denver Art Museum


Yesterday, I headed downtown with Michelle and Michaele to see Gee's Bend - The Architecture of the Quilt exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. We were not allowed to take pictures for some reason I am still scratching my head about. I was rather sad, since I actually remembered to bring the camera with me.

Michelle was the one that turned me on to these quilts. I am now obsessed with them. I have drooled over them in books but seeing them in person.....you are just blown away.

If you do a search on Google you can see tons of examples. This is one of my favorites. I think it is on exhibit in Texas.

Image: Annie Mae Young, born 1928. Work-clothes quilt with center medallion of corduroy strips, 1976. Denim, corduroy, synthetic blend, 108 x 77 inches. The Collection of the Tinwood Alliance

"Gees Bend is a small African American community in Alabama. The town’s women developed a distinctive, improvised geometric designs from salvaged work clothes, faded jeans, worn dresses, mattress ticking and cotton feed sacks, nothing is wasted. These skills and aesthetic were passed down through at least six generations to the present."*

Go see this exhibit if you get a chance. It is truly amazing.

*This description was taken from TreeHugger.com.

4 comments:

woolydaisy said...

wow-the museum did not look like that when i lived in denver.

Susan Luni said...

Gee's Bend quilts and their story are amazing. I'd love to see that exhibit, but Denver is a long drive for me. Oh well, there's a small quilt show here next weekend. Maybe that will fulfill my quilt-viewing desires.

WandaWoman said...

You've been a busy girl this week!

Sam said...

Oooh I'm going to drag poor Joe! It sounds fab.