GEE\'S BEND African American Birds in the Air Quilt by Bettie Bendolph Seltzer
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
GEE\'S BEND African American Birds in the Air Quilt by Bettie Bendolph Seltzer:
$4200.00
GEE\'S BEND African American Birds in the Air QuiltBy Bettie Bendolph Seltzer (1939-2017)
BettieBendolph Seltzer (1939-2017) was one of the African American quiltersinterviewed for the landmark exhibition and accompanying book THE QUILTS OFGEE’S BEND by John Beardsley, William Arnett, Paul Arnett, and JaneLivingston. Many residents of Gee’s Bend,Alabama are descended from slaves who worked the Pettway Plantation, atriangular peninsula of land surrounded on three sides by the twists and turnsof the Alabama River. The quilters ofGee’s Bend have for generations passed down their knowledge and love ofquilting to their daughters, and Bettie Bendolph Seltzer was fortunate to havean exceptional mother, Annie Bendolph (1900-1981). Bettie remembers her mother fondly:
My mama was ahardworking woman, all I know. Hadsixteen head of children and kept us all working hard in the field. All they know to do back then was havechildren and go to the field. Carriedevery one of us to church every Sunday.She was a good neighbor to peoples—always giving. She was a real good mother. All us thought so. Papa used to drink a lot, so she carried onthe family.
When I was growingup, mama made quilts to keep us warm.The ladies then piece their quilts at home and go to each other house tohelp quilt. At the start all they wasmaking them out was old clothes, pants, fertilizer sacks, dress tails, and mealand flour sacks, too.
I always wanted to belike my mama—hardworking, having something of my own. She was so independent. She started me to piecing up quilts when Iwas about ten. The first one, I made itwith some old dress tails and old britches legs. It wasn’t till I started at the quilting beearound 1971 that I started using good cloth.I never used that old clothes stuff again. It’s too tough to sew. Sometimes you hit the bottom, sometimes youdidn’t. Once you get your fingers ongood material, you can quilt more easier and more better.
Bettieremained in the Gee’s Bend, Alabama area, and later in life she started helpingout at the local post office. Five yearslater she was named postmaster, a position she held for several years. She took her responsibilities veryseriously:
They come in there,get the mail, and go. Don’t nobody standaround and gossip. When I’m in the postoffice, wearing that postal uniform, I’m postmaster. They don’t look at me like I’m Bettie. I might see my best friend run in there, getthe mail, and out. They don’t chat. I like it like that.
SadlyBettie suffered a stroke in 2010. Shepassed away in January of 2017. Buther quilts and her legacy of hard work and determination live on. Please be sure to check out all of the photosas I have included one of Bettie (photo 11) as well as one of her parents,Annie and Jacob Bendolph, with some of her brothers and sisters at Gee’s Bend(photo 12). The latter photo, taken in1937 two years before Bettie was born, was by Arthur Rothstein, a Farm SecurityAdministration (FSA) photographer sent to Gee’s Bend to document the need forfederal relief programs for this community in the years following the GreatDepression.
TheGEE’S BEND African American Birds in the Air Quilt offered here was hand pieced by Bettie in1986 using “good cotton material,” no longer having to rely on the old clothesstuff she used as a child and young woman.The material is mostly bright solids with a couple of sections featuringa print material. The solid red andmaroon border really sets off the “birds.”The quilt is vibrant and fun and full of energy. The triangle motif used in this quilt wasalso a favorite form used by Bettie’s mother Annie Bendolph in many of herquilts (like the Thousand Pyramids pattern).
Thequilt measures a generous 83 inches by 84 inches and has many of the quirkyfeatures and irregularities folks have come to love about Gee’s Bendquilts. Bettie hand pieced the quilt usingdifferent colors of thread. From adistance the quilt looks straight and square, but on close inspection we seethat not all of Bettie’s triangles are perfectly symmetrical, a planned andconscious deviation from order. Thequilt was communally quilted at a quilting bee.The quilt is quilted in diagonal rows varying from 6 or 7 stitches tothe inch to 3 or 4 stitches to the inch.
Thebatting is thin and there are places near the border of the quilt where thereis no batting. This is as made—the piece of batting used inthe quilt wasn’t square, so in places where it was irregular Bettie went onwithout it! The solid red binding isturned over and attached to the solid off white backing. Bettie made one hand repair to the binding (photo9) and there is one professional repair to the off-white muslin backing (photo10). The quilt feels strong and is crispand clean and the colors are bright and bold.
In terms of provenance, the Gee\'s Bend quilt offered here is from the collection of Dr. James Smith Pierce (1930-2010), a professor of art history at the University of Kentucky and a noted lecturer, collector, and preservationist of folk art and outsider art Environments and objects. In the 1970s and 1980s Dr. Pierce visited and documented (via super 8 movies, slides, and audio tapes) a number of visionary folk art and outsider art Environments across the country. His photographs were widely used in John Beardsley\'s book GARDENS OF REVELATION: EnvironmentS BY VISIONARY ARTISTS (1995). Following Dr. Pierce\'s passing, the University of North Dakota Art Collections acquired much of the material recorded by Pierce to preserve the invaluable information for future generations.
Gee’sBend quilts are utilitarian works of art that are a tribute to both theoriginality and spot-on design sensibilities of their creators. Bettie Bendolph Seltzer learned all she couldfrom the traditional ways passed down to her by her mother Annie Bendolph and,using new materials and new ideas, she created quilts that are both innovativeand timeless. For advanced collectors of African American art,textile art, and folk art this quilt is basically the Holy Grail. Own a piece of history. Buy this quilt today!
GEE\'S BEND African American Birds in the Air Quilt by Bettie Bendolph Seltzer:
$4200.00