05/07/2026
This exhibition is part of the library’s Juneteenth program, A Taste of Soul Food!
Thursday, June 18, 7-8:30 pm
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
https://events.hooverlibrary.org/event/16033946
4th-Generation Gee’s Bend Quilter, Victoria Marsh will be joined by her aunts, 3rd-Generation quilters Polly Mooney Middleton, Cathy Mooney and Emma Mooney Pettway, to talk about their work and the storied history of the legendary quilters of Gee’s Bend.
QUILTERS OF GEE’S BEND
Polly Mooney Middleton, Cathy Mooney and
Emma Mooney Pettway
May 6–June 30, 2026
Polly Mooney Middleton, Cathy Mooney and Emma Mooney Pettway are sisters and Gee’s Bend Quilters. Born and raised in Gee’s Bend, AL (Boykin, Alabama), they began quilting at an early age and credit their mother, Tanzy Mooney; grandmothers, Lottie Mooney and Mary Major and aunt, Polly Mooney Bennett for teaching and inspiring them to quilt. Their paternal grandmother’s (Lottie Mooney) quilt design was featured on the “Quilts of Gee’s Bend” commemorative stamps that were released in August of 2006 and their aunt, Polly Mooney Bennett, has quilts displayed in museums all over the world. They take pride in their history and continue to keep the tradition alive by passing it on to the next generation. They’ve worked with celebrities like John Legend, Stephen Burke, Marfa Stance and Greg Lauren to name a few, and in 2022 Gee’s Bend and Chloe Collaboration walked the runway during Paris’s Fashion Week. To the world, it’s art, but to them, it was a means to an end, a necessity that provided comfort and warmth, that connected families and a community all in love.
STATEMENT
Gee’s Bend Quilters are world renown artists from Gee’s Bend, Alabama (Boykin, AL), a former slave plantation, that was owned by Jospeh Gee in the early 1800s. They are direct descendants of slaves and continue to live in community. Usually made from old clothing or scraps of material, their quilt designs are known for their bold and abstract patterns. Each quilt is one of a kind and tells its own story.
