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.
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.
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.
This 75-quilt exhibition has been traveling the U.S. since 2006--this is its last stop--and includes never-before-seen quilts, including some from the 1930s that were recently discovered.
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.
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.
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. 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.
Article:
Zen and the Art of Personal Maintenance
Article:
PW's Guide to First Friday
Article:
The Calendar: November 4 - November 11
Article:
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity
Article:
Rabbit Hole
Article:
Absence
Article:
The Calendar: October 28 - November 3
Article:
Coming Home
