Loretta Pettway

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Loretta Pettway
Loretta Pettway cropped.jpg
Pettway in 2015
Born1942 (age 80–81)
Boykin, Alabama, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Known for Quilting
Notable workRoman Stripes, Medallion
MovementGee's Bend Collective

Loretta Pettway (born 1942) is an American artist and quilt maker of the Gee's Bend Collective from Boykin, Alabama. Her quilts are known for their bold and improvisational style. [1]

Contents

In 2006 her quilts "Roman Stripes" variation [2] and Medallion [3] appeared on two US Postal service stamps as part of a series commemorating Gee's bend quilters. [4] Her quilts are in the collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, [5] the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. [6] She is a recipient of a 2015 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. [7]

Life

Pettway was born in Boykin, Alabama [8] and grew up in disjointed homes with laborious chores and responsibilities. Her mother left the family when Loretta was about seven years old. Her father, Famous Pettway, remarried Plummer T. Pettway, but Loretta was raised primarily by her grandmother, Prissy. She was also the primary caretaker of her disabled brother. Pettway spend some of her childhood under her Aunt Candis and Uncle Tank Pettway's roof. There she grew up alongside her cousins Qunnie Pettway and Tank Jr. Later, she moved to another aunt's house, Missouri Pettway, alongside her cousin, Arlonzia Pettway. [8]

Her schooling was also fragmentary. Pettway typically went to school during October, November, and December, between harvests. Otherwise, all of the rest of her time was spent harvesting and attending to her brother. [8]

She married an abusive man who drank, smoked, and was very jealous. She raised seven children, who also began farming at an early age. [8]

Work

Pettway is one of the only quilters interviewed by the Souls Grown Deep Foundation who expressed contempt for learning to quilt. She recalls, "I didn't like to sew. Didn't want to do it. I had a handicapped brother and I had to struggle. I had a lot of work to do." [8] However, her grandmother Prissy was adamant about her learning to quilt, insisting that it was a skill that would be useful later in her life. This proved true when Pettway moved into her home, which only had one heated room, as an adult. "But when I got me a house, a raggly old house, then I needed them to keep warm. We only had heat in the living room, and when you go out of that room you need cover. I had to get up about four, five o'clock, and get coal. Make a fire. Them quilts done keep you warm." [8]

She first learned how to quilt by assisting her grandmother with assembling patches, threading needles, etc. Her first quilt was a "Nine Patch" quilt made when she was eleven. As an adult, she has a variety of patterns in her oeuvre. [8]

Examples of Pettway's work include: Lazy Gal Bars quilt, [9] Housetop quilt, [10] and Medallion quilt [3] that can be found at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quilts of Gee's Bend</span> Quilting tradition of Gees Bend, Alabama

The quilts of Gee's Bend are quilts created by a group of women and their ancestors who live or have lived in the isolated African-American hamlet of Gee's Bend, Alabama along the Alabama River. The quilts of Gee's Bend are among the most important African-American visual and cultural contributions to the history of art within the United States. Arlonzia Pettway, Annie Mae Young and Mary Lee Bendolph are among some of the most notable quilters from Gee's Bend. Many of the residents in the community can trace their ancestry back to enslaved people from the Pettway Plantation. Arlonzia Pettway can recall her grandmother's stories of her ancestors, specifically of Dinah Miller, who was brought to the United States by slave ship in 1859.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Lee Bendolph</span> American quilt maker

Mary Lee Bendolph is an American quilt maker of the Gee's Bend Collective from Gee's Bend (Boykin), Alabama. Her work has been influential on subsequent quilters and artists and her quilts have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the country. Bendolph uses fabric from used clothing for quilting in appreciation of the "love and spirit" with old cloth. Bendolph has spent her life in Gee's Bend and has had work featured in the Philadelphia Museum of Art as well as the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minnesota.

<i>Vegetation</i> (quilt)

Vegetation is a 2009 quilt by Gee's Bend quilter Loretta Pettway Bennett. It is located on the Eskenazi Health campus, near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, and is part of the Eskenazi Health Art Collection.

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Lucy Marie (Young) Mingo is an American quilt maker and member of the Gee's Bend Collective from Gee's Bend (Boykin), Alabama. She was an early member of the Freedom Quilting Bee, which was an alternative economic organization created in 1966 to raise the socio-economic status of African-American communities in Alabama. She was also among the group of citizens who accompanied Martin Luther King Jr. on his 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

Loretta Pettway Bennett is an American artist. She is associated with the Freedom Quilting Bee, where her mother, Qunnie Pettway, worked, and with the Gee's Bend quilt-makers. Her quilts Sew Low and Vegetation are part of the Eskenazi Health Art Collection.

Arlonzia Pettway (1923–2008) was an American artist associated with the Gee's Bend group of quilters. She began quilting at age 13.

Annie Mae Young (1928–2013) was an American artist associated with the Gee's Bend group of quilters. Her daughter, Nellie Mae Abrams, was also a quilter.

Martha Jane Pettway (1898–2003) was an American artist associated with the Gee's Bend group of quilters. Pettway was born in Gee's Bend, Alabama and lived her entire life there. Her work is included in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Jessie T. Pettway is an American artist associated with the Gee's Bend group of quilters.

Mary Elizabeth Kennedy (1911–1991) is an American artist associated with the Gee's Bend group of quilters. Her work is included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Annie E. Pettway (1904–1972) was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and is included in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Henrietta Pettway (1894–1971) was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective. Her work is included in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her surviving quilts, dating from the 1920s, demonstrate how long the improvisational method has been in use in Gee's Bend.

Sue Willie Seltzer (1922–2010) was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the National Gallery of Art, and is included in the collection of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Magalene Wilson (1898–2001), also known as Magdalene Wilson, was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and is included in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Nettie Pettway Young (1916–2010) was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective and was an assistant manager of the Freedom Quilting Bee. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Frist Art Museum, and is included in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Nasher Museum of Art.

Arcola Pettway (1934–1994) was an American artist associated with the Gee's Bend group of quilters.

Lucy T. Pettway (1921–2004) was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Frist Art Museum, and is included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Lola Pettway is an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective, along with her mother, Allie Pettway. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Frist Art Museum, and is included in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Pearlie Kennedy Pettway (1920–1982) was an American quilter. She was among the quilters of Gee's Bend. Her works are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Lucy P. Pettway (1930–2003) was an American quilter. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective. Pettway's quilt titled Housetop - Nine-Block Half-Log Cabin Variation, is the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art.

References

  1. ↑ "Loretta Pettway: Gee's Bend | Paulson Fontaine Press". paulsonfontainepress.com. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  2. ↑ Pettway, Loretta (1970). ""Roman Stripes" Variation (Local Name: Crazy Quilt)". Souls Grown Deep. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  3. 1 2 Pettway, Loretta (c. 1960). "Medallion quilt". Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2014.548.51. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Gees Bend Quilters to be Honored with Stamp". www.wsfa.com. April 10, 2006.
  5. ↑ "Quilt | The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston". www.mfah.org. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  6. ↑ Art, Philadelphia Museum of. "Philadelphia Museum of Art - About Us : Our Story". www.philamuseum.org. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Mary Lee Bendolph, Lucy Mingo, and Loretta Pettway: Quilters of Gee's Bend". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. n.d. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Loretta Pettway". www.soulsgrowndeep.org. Souls Grown Deep Foundation. n.d. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
  9. ↑ Pettway, Loretta (c. 1965). "Lazy Gal Bars quilt". Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2014.548.50. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  10. ↑ Pettway, Loretta (1963). "Housetop quilt". Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2014.548.49. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
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