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artist portfolios
  • john baederjohn baeder
  • jane braddockjane braddock
  • wayne brezinkawayne brezinka
  • brother melbrother mel
  • charlie buckleycharlie buckley
  • dan bynumdan bynum
  • ed clarked clark
  • chip cooperchip cooper
  • nick dantonanick dantona
  • thornton dialthornton dial
  • don dudenbosteldon dudenbostel
  • david farmeriedavid farmerie
  • gee's bendgee's bend
  • anne goetzeanne goetze
  • jim hubbmanjim hubbman
  • charles iveycharles ivey
  • robin venable kennyrobin venable kenny
  • charles keigercharles keiger
  • meagan kieffermeagan kieffer
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  • robert kolbrenerrobert kolbrener
  • norman lernernorman lerner
  • john loengardjohn loengard
  • jim mcguirejim mcguire
  • judy nebhutjudy nebhut
  • john nikolaijohn nikolai
  • jerry parkjerry park
  • christine pattersonchristine patterson
  • leonard pihaleonard piha
  • bob schatzbob schatz
  • lamar sorrentolamar sorrento
  • bill starkebill starke
  • bill steberbill steber
  • denise stewart-sanabriadenise stewart-sanabria
  • jason stoddartjason stoddart
  • david swanagindavid swanagin
  • tres taylortres taylor
  • andy toddandy todd
  • cynthia tollefsrudcynthia tollefsrud
  • chuck trotterchuck trotter
  • harry underwoodharry underwood
  • brett weaverbrett weaver
  • brad wreyfordbrad wreyford
  • aggie zedaggie zed
  • special collection: edie maneyspecial collection: edie maney
  • special collection: grannis archivesspecial collection: grannis archives

Artist Portfolio: Gee's Bend

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Gee's Bend

About Gee's Bend

The Gee’s Bend quilting community came to William Arnett’s attention in the 1990s when he noticed extraordinary quilts hanging on fences in the small isolated community of Gee’s Bend in eastern Alabama. The quilters lived lives of cultural isolation, racism, and poverty. Even so, they made beauty out of the scraps of cloth they used to make quilts for the practical need to keep their families warm. As outsiders from the world around them, they created their own designs and standards of beauty. Their primary sources were families, stories, leftover clothes, and the textures of their lives of poverty, transforming them into design improvisations that were unique to this particular group of people in this particular location. By 2002, these quilts became a new sensation in the art world when presented as The Quilts of Gee’s Bend at the Whitney Museum of Art in NYC.

That exhibit and others of their work have continued to be presented at other major museums, including the Milwaukee Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, the Frist Center of Visual Arts, and others. In 2003, The Arts Company presented an exhibition of their quilts, and a few years later, hosted 75 quilters and friends from Gee’s Bend on their way to the Milwaukee Museum of Art for an exhibit. Books, films, videos, and articles on the quilts and quilters have been published in the last 10 years, and more recently, several of the quilters traveled to California where they produced limited-edition etchings of their work.

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    American Housetop( For the Arnetts), 2005

    45.5 x 38 in., Color aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Black and Brown, 2005

    33 x 30.5 in., Color aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Blues, 2007

    42.75 x 31 in., Softground spitbite aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Forever (For Old Lady Sally)

    29.25 x 44 in., Softground spitbite aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Lazy Gal, 2006

    39.5 x 33 in., Softground spitbite aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Lonnie Holley's Freedom, 2005

    41 x 44 in., Color aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Mayday, 2005

    42 x 35.5 in., Color aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    No Way, No Way, 2006

    29.5 x 36 in., Softground spitbite aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Old Beauty, 2006

    28 x 24.75 in., Softground spitbite aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Passing By, 2006

    39 x 43 in., Softground, aquatint, and spitbite aquatint with chine colle kozo, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Remember Me, 2006

    40 x 39 in., Softground and aquatint with chine colle kozo, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Shared Legacy, 2007

    30 x 34.5 in., Color aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    To Honor Mr. Dial, 2005

    55.5 x 36 in., Color aquatint etching, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

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    Untitled

    16 x 16 in., Silk screen print, price upon request. ©Gee’s Bend. For purchase, please call toll-free: 1-877-694-2040 or email: art@theartscompany.com

Full Gallery

    • American Housetop( For the Arnetts), 2005
    • Black and Brown, 2005
    • Blues, 2007
    • Forever (For Old Lady Sally)
    • Lazy Gal, 2006
    • Lonnie Holley's Freedom, 2005
    • Mayday, 2005
    • No Way, No Way, 2006
    • Old Beauty, 2006
    • Passing By, 2006
    • Remember Me, 2006
    • Shared Legacy, 2007
    • To Honor Mr. Dial, 2005
    • Untitled
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