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Birds in the Air, 79" x 79", by Gee's Bend resident Lucy T. Pettway.
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Surrounded on three sides by the Alabama River and separated from the outside world by 15 miles of road that wasn't paved until the 1960s, Gee's Bend, Alabama, remained a world onto itself for generations of quiltmakers and their families.
Through March 2, 70 quilts made by the women of this small, geographically isolated rural community will be on display in the Peter Norton Family Galleries at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The quilts, made from the 1920s to the 1990s, were created for practical use, but still reflect the artistic side of these quiltmakers. With limited availability of fabrics and even more limited finances, the women worked with what was at hand--remnants of family clothing, work clothes, and other household textiles--and still managed to create striking, visually appealing designs.
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