betsy lou

JJ........It saddens me to read your note.....why does this happen? My God-like upbringing tells me it is a greed of a few........I do like the "non-traditional" look of these quilts and soty of off the wall, I like the mathematical aspect of them...I have twwo paterns...Housetop and Lazy' Gal......I have sewen the first together....I was told by Windham the individual patterns are no longer available and one must buy the "entire kit" from them....what control!! Thanks so much for your note..I apppreciate your time and comments....betsy lou

pookie ookie

Naive art/outsider art/folk art has a place but it frequently involves a volturing promoter, or twelve, as has been pointed out. Sometimes the subject profits well enough but that's the exception to the rule, I think. And, I say subject, rather than artist, because the creator is more of the story than the piece itself.

Butterflywing is brave to point out the differences between the original utility blankets and the current product. Many of us had relatives who made scrap blankets for utilitarian purposes and those aren't art. They would need to be grouped, framed in a sociological perspective and promoted.

Some of my favorite painters were actually limners. I'm descended from limners who will never be famous, never have a patron. Long dead and "undiscovered," they were working folk who barely managed to make a living with their commercial "art." Multiple generations worked together, some as gilders. While fascinating to me, it would require a serious effort to interest anyone else.

Any argument about naive art leads to the canons and definitions and, well, there's fun in that. I already took that class. I just wanted to say that I see Butterflywing's point and Gee's point, too.

Mystik Spiral

Although this thread has been dead for years, I made an account just to defend the Gee's Bend quilts.

Art is an expression of human emotion. The quilts of Gee's Bend have more expression than "perfect" and traditional quilts.

When I see a quilt where everything is perfect, all seams straight, no variation, no visual interest... I just want to soak it in gasoline and light it on fire. What is the point in putting in all the time and effort into making a handmade item if the finished product looks like it came out of a factory? If you can't see the human factor, it is worthless.

The quilts of Gee's Bend are expressions of the culture in which they were created. I love the wonkiness, the imperfections - I strive for that when I make my quilts. I'll even make mistakes on purpose.

You may think they are ugly. You may not like them. But these quilts are still rousing an emotion in you. And because of that, they are art. I agree they would have never gotten the recognition if they were never discovered by the curators. Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But if you fail to see the beauty in these quilts - even the ugly and raw beauty - you're probably a very cold and unpleasant person.

These quilts are organic, they are spontaneous, and they are made resourcefully. In my opinion, that is much more interesting than a quilt that was planned out, cut precisely, and agonized over - which just sucks the life right out of the quilt.

Rotate a few blocks the wrong way, use the wrong color, let a few seams get crooked - you might like it.