Around Noon: June 2004

The Art of American Quiliting
Originally aired Thursday, June 24
Like voices coming together in a spiritual hymn, the colors of a quilt can raise our spirits as they warm our hearts. For generations, a group of women from a small Alabama town have sewn the stories of their lives into a patchwork of fabric and emotion, to provide comfort, for family and friends. The ladies of Gee’s Bend often would sing spirituals, as they pieced together cloth from old clothes and factory scraps, creating an incredible combination of artistic talent, everyday function, and southern hospitality. For the women of Gee’s Bend, their quilts were at most family heirlooms to be treasured by their children, or practical pieces to be sold for necessities. But in recent years, curators from some of America’s finest museums discovered that the Quilts of Gee’s Bend are much more than examples of beautiful utility - they are masterpieces of American art. The Cleveland Museum of Art opens the acclaimed exhibition featuring the works of four generations of Gee’s Bend quilters. “The Quilts of Gee’s Bend” goes on view, with a run through mid-September.