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Stella Mae Pettway

American

b. 1952

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  1. Candy Bar by Stella Mae Pettway, Image 1.

    Stella Mae Pettway

    Candy Bar, 2017

    Jean, cotton, and flannel

    72 x 83 in (182.88 x 210.82 cm)

Stella Mae Pettway was born in Gee's Bend/Boykin, Alabama in 1952 into a tradition of quilt making spanning more than four generations. Gee’s Bend, also known as Boykin, Alabama, sits within a bend in the Alabama River south of Selma. Many within the isolated African-American community can trace their ancestry back to individuals enslaved at the Pettway Plantation that once stood in Gee’s Bend. After emancipation, many of the freed enslaved individuals and their relatives stayed in the area as sharecroppers. The quilting tradition in Gee’s Bend dates back to the 19th century, originally influenced by a combination of Indigenous American and African textiles. In the post-Civil War period and into the 20th century, the women of Gee’s Bend created quilts out of functional needs for themselves and their families. In the 1960s the Gee’s Bend community, alongside the Freedom Quilting Bee, gained recognition for their quilts and their involvement in the civil rights movement. In recent years, the collective has featured in shows at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. The quiltmaking traditions passed down over generations resulted in a unique style characterized by geometric abstraction and a distinctly hand-made touch.

Drawing on the work of her mother, Georgianna, as well as earlier generations of quiltmakers, Stella Mae Pettway creates elaborate quilts using found and sourced cloth. She has developed the “My Way” approach, in which quilt patterns diverge from traditional simplistic geometric forms and incorporate distinctive asymmetry. Pettway has spearheaded a new generation of Gee’s Bend quiltmakers, one that embraces the designation of their works as art objects. Stella Mae Pettway still resides in Gee’s Bend and continues to work with the Gee’s Bend Collective.