A Survey of Gee's Bend Quilts

Age Group: All Ages
Venue: Boise Art Museum
Address: 670 Julia Davis Drive | Boise, Idaho 83702
Phone: 208-345-8330



A Survey of Gee's Bend Quilts

October 10, 2009 - January 17, 2010

Hailed by the New York Times as some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced, the abstract quilts from the tiny, isolated African-American community of Gee's Bend, Alabama, prompted a rethinking of commonly accepted artistic categories. Throughout much of the twentieth century, making quilts was considered a domestic responsibility for the African-American women in Gee's Bend, an area of Rehoboth and Boykin, Alabama. As young girls, many of the women trained or apprenticed in their craft with their mothers, female relatives, or friends. Women with large families often made dozens upon dozens of quilts over the course of their lives. Organized by Tinwood Media and the Boise Art Museum, the exhibition will feature 25 quilts created between 1940 - 2006, as well as 20 contemporary prints inspired by the quilts created by several of the Gee's Bend artists.