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April 2008
Art Picks

Gee's Bend Quilters

By Susanna Tu, Midtown Monthly

Louisiana Bendolph, "History", softground aquatint, 2007

Gee's Bend, a small community in Alabama, is home to a group of women who have been making their distinct quitlts for generations. After the Civil War, freed slaves settled in the area, creating a community that was largely isolated from the rest of the world due to the geography of the land. At least six generations of the women of Gee's Bend have created quilts with great skill from whatever materials were available, pulling eye-catching aesthetics from their imagaination. The composition and colors of the quilts are modern, with a simplicity that is reminiscent of Amish quilts as well as abstract paintings. The result is an extraordinary collection of truly unique, individual pieces.

Gee's Bend Quilters

WHEN: Noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through May 3

WHERE: b. sakata garo, 923 20th St.

ADMISSION: Free

INFORMATION: (916) 447-4276. www.bsakatagaro.com


April 11, 2008
Art Pick of the Week


By Victoria Dalkey, Sacramento Bee Correspondent

Mary Lee Bendolph, "To Honor Mr. Dial," color aquatint etching, 2005.
Mary Lee Bendolph, Louisiana Bendolph and Loretta Bennett are three of the famous quilters from Gee's Bend in Alabama, a small community settled by freed slaves after the Civil War. Made from scraps at hand, the vibrant quilts of Gee's Bend, which have been shown at the Whitney Museum in New York and the de Young Museum in San Francisco, have been hailed as some of the world's most stunning modernist compositions. Working with master printers at Paulson Press in Berkeley, Bennet and the Bendolphs produced a series of texturally rich, brilliantly colored etchings that translate their textiles into prints that are suprisingly affordable.