Stitching Stories: Conversations on Quilts, Community, and the Artists of Gee's Bend
Image Credit: Mary Lee Bendolph, Born 1935, "Strips," 2003, 71" x 82"
The Franklin G. Burroughs - Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC will present a weekly lecture series titled "Stitching Stories: Conversations on Quilts, Community, and the Artists of Gee's Bend" from June - August 2010 in conjunction with the tenure of two exciting exhibits, A Survey of the Quilts of Gee's Bend and Linda Day Clark: The Photographs of Gee's Bend. The lecture series will include a variety of topics and formats, from theater to food to music. The Humanities CouncilSC supported the Stitching Stories lecture series through a Major Grant in February 2010.
Gee's Bend is a tenant community in Alabama that was largely populated by freed slaves after the Civil War. Women from the Gee's Bend community developed a unique quilting aesthetic that has been passed down through six generations and has been described as "distinctive, bold, and sophisticated . . . based on traditional American (and African American) quilts but with a geometric simplicity reminiscent of Amish quilts and modern art."
Please visit The Humanities Council SC website for further details about the lecture series.