This week’s Weekly (online only) has my piece on the Gees Bend quilts and a preview of James Castle, both at the PMA (Castle opens Oct. 14. Below’s the copy with pictures.
Two Gees Bend quilters sit in front of their quilts at the PMA’s press preview.
Self-taught artists take over prime real estate at the Philadelphia Museum of Art this month. The Gee’s Bend quilters and the mute artist James Castle broke all kinds of art rules to make their powerful work. Amazing things happen when you don’t even know the rules exist.
Sarah Benning in front of one of her courderoy quilts. I spoke to Benning before the press tour and asked her what her favorite quilting fabric was and she said “courderoy.” She’s was wearing a red courderoy jacket. When we got to the room with her quilts I asked her if I could take her picture in front of one of them. She posed for me here pointing to her quilt. The gesture surprised me but was completely natural.
Since the Gee’s Bend quilts were exhibited and anthologized in 2002, the art world has embraced them. It’s no wonder. The bold, abstract bed coverings made to keep the quilters’ families warm tower over the gallery spaces like sensual and wild interpretations of abstract paintings by Piet Mondrian and Joseph Albers.
One of the founders of Tinwood Alliance, a father-son duo. This is the son–I’m sorry I do not know his name.
When the stripes, arrows, nested squares and other repeat patterns in these wall pieces merge with homespun recycled materials like corduroy and denim, the clash of old and new, functional and fantasy, breathes new life into abstract art and new meaning to the word quilt.
Linda Day Clark has been photographing Gees Bend for six years. The woman portrayed in the photo suffered a stroke recently and is in ill health and Bendolph was speaking about her.
Ten of the quilters were in town for the exhibit’s opening and they looked like a group of church ladies. Churches in rural Gee’s Bend, Ala., are a big part of the town’s life, according to Linda Day Clark, who’s been photographing the townspeople since 2002. (Clark’s photo exhibition leads the way into the exhibit.) For their part, the quilters—as they’ve done at other public events—broke into hymns of praise at the preview, chanting, “Thank you, Lord” in mournful three-part rounds. (See YouTube segment I posted of them singing.)
Louisiana P. Bendolph, speaking in front of her quilt, about how her life has changed since the 2002 exhibition at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Her words were of her empowerment as a person and her thanks to the Tinwood Alliance which helped bring the quilts to the world.
The ladies, singing at the press preview.
The quilters’ lives have changed since their explosion on the art scene. They now have a Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective to market and sell their works, and the money from sales has allowed them to have things they didn’t have before, like cars. But as fully committed members of their community, they see the money as a way to do good. “I can help poor people,” is what one quilter reportedly said when asked what she would do with her money.
Sculpture by James Castle. Photo courtesy of PMA.
Meanwhile, opening Oct. 14 in a gallery immediately next to the quilts, is the first major retrospective of James Castle, who was born profoundly deaf and unable or unwilling to communicate through sign language or other traditional means.
James Castle. Photo courtesy of PMA.
The Castle retrospective, a huge show of almost 300 works, comes on the heels of a documentary about the artist, funded by the local Foundation for Self-Taught Artists. It debuted last year at the Philadelphia International Film Festival. The 53-minute movie will run as part of the exhibition and will be available as a DVD insert in the show’s catalog.
Castle is hardly unknown to those who follow outsider art. His drawings, assemblages, sculptures and handmade books show a playful artist fascinated with words and a renegade talent who delights in making his own art materials. Fleisher-Ollman Gallery, which has shown Castle’s art for many years, is mounting a companion show with works by Castle and other art world masters like Philip Guston, Jasper Johns and Jim Nutt.
Drawing by James Castle. Photo courtesy of PMA.
The days when self-taught artists and their art were considered a curiosity are long over. James Castle and the Gee’s Bend quilters are some of the best out there.
7 Comments
love the photo of the women gathering themselves and singing!!!
Me, too. The ladies were so sweet and earnest. I just love them.
Hi Libby and Roberta,
Love the piece about the Mayor’s Arts Town Hall meeting. I thought you might be interested in this piece that our (WHYY’s) arts and culture reporter did on Outsider Art and the James Castle retrospective. Here’s the link:
http://tinyurl.com/6h9trn
Thanks
Hey, Don! thanks and thanks for the link. I love the audio slide show that Alex did with Kathy Foster. Really nice–congrats!!
Hi, Dan, thanks for adding that great link. It’s great to have some radio coverage of art!!!!! And also thanks for liking our story on the Mayor’s Town Hall Meeting. We had some fun doing that one!!!
i am a big fan of the Gee’s Bend quilters (for both their artistry and there politics) and would really like to purchase a quilt by Sarah Benning; i’m a filmmaker with the same last name.
regards,
James Benning
Hi, James, Here’s what I came up with for Gee’s Bend quilters. Since the artnet site, http://www.artnet.com/artist/424003014/gees-bend-quiltmakers.html, doesn’t have anything by Benning on in, I would try this phone number for The Gee’s Bend Quilter’s Collective, (334) 573-2323. You can also talk directly to the galleries that list on that artnet site.
And on a cautionary note–licensed copies can be found in stores, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A13948-2004Feb27¬Found=true, and because they are licensed, they would also profit the quiltmakers, but they are not the real thing.
Hope that helps.