Following the popular and successful exhibitions of stunningly original quilts designed by the women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, the Denver Art Museum (DAM) will host its sequel, Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt, April 13 through July 6. The critically acclaimed show features 49 unique quilts created from the 1920s through 2005 by four generations of women from this small, isolated farming community. Transforming an essential necessity into an art form, these quilts express their stories of family, community and basic human survival. The quilts are widely acclaimed as spectacular examples of modern, abstract art and their makers as brilliantly creative self-taught artists.

On view at the DAM through July 6, Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt is the second exhibition organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Tinwood Alliance. Premiering at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in July 2006, the tour continues to well-known museums in eight U.S. cities. Curated for the DAM by Alice Zrebiec, the Museum’s consulting curator of textile art, this new exhibition takes an in-depth look at the quilts and their makers, expanding upon concepts presented in the inaugural show, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend.

"While the first exhibition captivated unsuspecting audiences with the artistic boldness, energy and dynamism of the quilts – and the quilters – of Gee's Bend, this second exhibition takes the viewer even further,” Zrebiec said.

“The sequencing of the quilts leads the viewer visually through criss-crossing story lines, and the voice of the artist is heard clearly through numerous quotes and a mesmerizing video. The makers speak for themselves about what is important to them in their lives and in their art."

Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt examines the origins of patterns and materials and how the familial and community interrelationships among the quilters influence their work. Originally created for basic comfort and need, the quilts were hung on loose-board walls to keep the wind out and layered under thin mattresses. With limited resources, the women of Gee’s Bend recycled old clothing and fabric to piece together quilts in their own patterns like Housetop and Bricklayer. Boldly combining color, fabric, form and texture, these quilt makers turned utilitarian objects into contemporary artworks.

Much more than a sequel to the successful first exhibition, Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt examines the structure of the Gee’s Bend quilts from a number of perspectives: the role of materials and recycling; the role of family relationships and friendships; the inventive “bending” of standard quilt patterns and the development of individual styles amid a strong community tradition.

The exhibition also reveals the remarkable rebirth of quilting that has occurred in Gee’s Bend in the last four years: Older women who had ceased quilting are creating a new, and younger generations also have embraced the art. A number of the quilts selected for this show have been made since the earlier exhibition – evidence that the Gee’s Bend quilting tradition, once thought to be fading, is alive and thriving.

About Gee’s Bend

The quilts in this exhibition are drawn from the collection of the Tinwood Alliance, a non-profit foundation for the support of African-American vernacular art founded by William Arnett. Arnett first traveled to the area in 1999 in search of Annie Mae Young, whose picture and quilt he had seen in Roland Freeman’s book about African-American quilters, Communion of the Spirit. Young directed him to Gee’s Bend, a town of about 750 residents isolated on a U-shaped sliver of land on the Alabama River.

Gee’s Bend was named after Joseph Gee, the first white man to settle there in the early 1800s. The Gee family sold the plantation to Mark Pettway in 1845, and today most of the residents are the descendents of slaves from the former Pettway plantation. Their ancestors continued to work the land as tenant farmers after emancipation and many eventually bought those farms in the 1940s.

Denver Art Museum

The Denver Art Museum is located on 13th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock Streets in downtown Denver. Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday noon-5 p.m.; closed Mondays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission for Colorado residents: $10 adults, $8 seniors and students. Admission for non-Colorado residents: $13 for adults, $10 for seniors and students, $5 for visitors age six to eighteen, free for children under 6. General Museum admission is free for Colorado residents the first Saturday of each month. For information in Spanish, call 720-913-0169. For more information, visit www.denverartmuseum.org or call 720-865-5000.

“Housetop” variation, 1982, by Gearldine Westbrook, American, born 1919. Corduroy and cotton; 92 x 80 in. Collection of the Tinwood Alliance. Photo: Stephen Pitkin, Pitkin Studio,

Rockford, IL.

Blocks and Strips, 2003, by Irene Williams, American, b. 1920. Polyester double-knit; 100 x 72 in. Collection of the Tinwood Alliance. Photo: Stephen Pitkin, Pitkin Studio, Rockford, Il.