Quilting in Gee's Bend | This is Alabama

Quilting ain't nothin' but quilting. They'll say oh, Mary Ann, you made some real small stitches or you keep your line so straight. And I tell them that's a gift. I don't draw any line to try to follow the lines. I say that's too much work. Whatever happened happened. I say that's the art in it. And I don't know anything about art. My name is Mary Ann Pettway. I'm the manager of the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective. The first show they did in Houston. Then it went to New York to the Whitney. I was told it went to Mobile. The High Museum, I got a chance to go there. China and myself, we're mostly traveling, doing workshops. Teaching people how to make quilts in our style. But I thank God for that because of them if they didn't want to learn our style then she and I won't, you know be doing that much traveling at all. Oh, it means a lot to me because I started working here in 2006 and since that time I finished paying for my house. I bought a car and only owe one more payment on the van I got out there. Because of these quilts. Because this is my only income. It is helping some of us in this community by making quilts cause a lot of lady make their quilts at home then they bring them here to be sold to here. We done had some from Japan, Hawaii. We have a lot of different people from here or you know come to visit with us. When mom was teaching me I didn't want to learn how because see, I was young. I wante to go play. But I thank God that mama taught me and she made me. See, we didn't have no beds to lay on. So they had to make quilts for us to lay on the floor and quilts to cover up under. But see I got the grand boys training. I'm training them. And I had two young girls the other day came and asked me to teach them how to quilt. They say it's a dying art so long as I'm able to teach what I can teach then I'm gonna teach it. People tell us we are famous. I don't feel it. I'm still the same as I always been. I try to be more loving and caring and respectful to other people because I want them to treat me with respect. And you know, I try to respect them.

Channel: This Is Alabama

Views: 25,183

Rating: 4.9139786 out of 5

Keywords: Gee's Bend, Quilters, Quilting, Folk art, art, museum, Mary Ann Pettway, China Pettway, Boykin, Alabama, folkschool, camp mcdowell, collective

Id: GLWeW_L3aFE

Length: 2min 58sec (178 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 27 2018