Gee's Bend quilters featured at 'Talkies'

Sisters crafters came together last Thursday to gain insight on the quilting skills that the women of Gee's Bend, Alabama have developed over the last 150 years. The event was the second and last Talkies of the 2008 season and benefited the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.

Quilt show founder Jean Wells-Keenan oversaw the occasion. She provided the film "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," offered commentary and facilitated a question and answer session after the screening. Sisters Movie House donating the facility, enabling proceeds from ticket sales to be donated to the quilt show.

According to Wells-Keenan, the film is relevant to Sisters because many locals are interested in both quilting and art. Gee's Bend quilts are both "...folk art and a traditional sort of thing that has to do with our culture," she said.

A skilled quilter may look at the quilts of Gee's Bend crafters and think that they are not as well made as some, as most were sewn by hand, Wells-Keenan told The Nugget.

"But there's something very distinctive about the style. I think it's because they are kind of made from the heart. Lots of times their designs would come from things that were around them that they would see. It's much like quilters today," she said.

The film depicts how the isolated African-American women of Gee's Bend, a slice of land five miles long and eight miles wide surrounded on three sides by the Alabama River, work with what they have on hand to create dynamic quilts that through the years have become renown worldwide. Because they like to sing as they work, their songs have also become very popular. Everything that they have done has been accomplished with very limited resources, Wells-Keenan said.

"...their quilts are very intuitive and their patterns are very intuitive," she said. They never used a ruler when they were cutting yet tended to put three or four pieces of fabric together. "If they liked the shapes, they would make some more of them, so they might end up with a repeated block quilt. They also ended up with a lot of what we call medallion or what they call 'house top' quilts, because they start at the center and then work out."

The quilts of the Gee's Bend crafters were first discovered in the '90s at an art exhibit in Houston, Texas. They since have become internationally acclaimed and featured at hundreds of exhibitions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. For more information visit http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com.

The interactive film series Talkies, founded by area resident John Simpkins and hosted by Sisters Movie House, brings the community together to learn about and discuss topics especially of interest to Sisters folks, while at the same time benefiting a local non-profit organization. According to movie house manager Ron Glanville, plans are already in the making for next year's series.