came along.Published: Saturday, May 11, 2020
Gee’s Bend Quilts have been captivating the public’s attention for the past 20 years with their vibrant colors and daring geometric patterns. Direct descendants of former slaves from rural Alabama, who faced hardships such as geographic isolation and material restrictions, developed the groundbreaking art form.
This year, their improvisational arts have also become a symbol of a modern question: what happens when recognizable cultural traditions collide with corporate America.
Enter Target. Target launched a limited edition collection this year based on quilters’ designs to celebrate Black History Month. The demand for the products was high, as stores across the country were sold out of the faux-quilted and checkered blankets, water bottles, and sweaters.
Sharbreon plummer, a scholar and artist, says: “We are in the midst of a quilt revival, in real time.” Target was aware of this. The product was the most popular when it first came out.
Five Gee’s Bend Quilters “inspired” the Target designs, and they reaped a limited amount of financial benefit from its success. The quilters received a flat fee for their contribution, rather than being paid proportionally to Target’s sale. Target’s spokesperson refused to share the sales figures for this collection, but did confirm that many stores had sold out.
Target’s one-off partnership with the company benefits only a few people. In this case, five women from two different families.
It’s not a new maxim, but “representation is important” has gained more traction. How can we reconcile the fact that visibility for some does not translate to meaningful change for an entire marginalized group?
“Every stage has been problematic,” Patricia Turner, retired professor of World Arts and Culture and African American Studies from UCLA, who traced back the commodification Gee’s Bend Quilts to the white collector Bill Arnett during the 1990s. She says, “I am really disturbed by Target’s internal designer manipulating things to make it more appealing to their audience.”
Brian Harper-Tibaldo, spokesperson for Target, said that quilters were able to offer input at various stages of the process.
In an emailed message, he said: “We worked with The Quilters of Gee’s Bend to create a number of limited-time items.” As is customary with Target’s limited-time collection, each quilter received a fee that was discussed and agreed on. Target was given the final say in design, as per our contract. However, to honor their rich heritage, it was a highly collaborative process.
The company’s interaction with quilters was minimal. While thumbnail photos of the makers were printed on some marketing material and “Gee’s Bend’ was printed on clothing labels, its engagement was limited. The quilters’ names, images and websites were removed from the retailer as soon as Black History Month concluded.
Target has committed to spending more than $2 billion in black-owned businesses before 2025.
Today’s situation is similar to the 1990s when some quilters were able to gain newfound recognition, while others felt disinterested. In 2007, several quilters filed a series lawsuits against Arnett’s family. However, all suits were settled outside of court. Little is known about these cases because of nondisclosure agreement.
Turner says that the profit-driven approach, which upset the Quilting Bee price-sharing system, caused “real rifts” and discord within the community, as it affected the way the Quilting Bee engaged with art institutions, collectors and commercial enterprises. I find it sad that those bonds were broken over the commercialization their art form.
Quilts are often made to commemorate major life events and to be gifted as a gift to celebrate a wedding, a new child or to remember a loved one who has passed away. The quilting community resists commercialization by repurposing fabrics, such as tattered clothes, frayed rags and stained blankets. The Target collection, however, was mass-produced in China and other overseas factories using new fabrics.
Gee’s Bend’s older generations are known for their unique designs, which often feature clashing colors or irregular, wavy patterns. These visual effects were a result of the material limitations they faced. The majority worked in the dark, without electricity and with basic tools such as scissors. They also didn’t have access to fabric shops. Stella Mae Pettway has described the paradox of having more fabric and scissors now, as well as being able to sell her quilts for $100-$8,000 on Etsy.
As adults, many third and fourth generation artists have returned to quilting for creative and therapeutic outlets as well as to reconnect with their roots. JoeAnn Pettway West, a quilter who lost her mother in 2010, returned to the craft and found peace by completing unfinished quilts. “As I make this stitch, I see her hand stitching.” She says, “It’s as if we’re together.” “It is a bit of her and a bit of me,” she says.
Delia Pettway Thibodeaux, a third generation Gee’s Bend Quilter, whose grandmother worked as a sharecropper in Gee’s Bend and whose rhythmic, bold quilts now reside permanently at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She received a flat rate for the Target collection rather than a percentage of sales.
Pettway Thibodeaux: “I was a little worried at first” about the way quilts would be modified to fit the collection. “But when I saw this collection, I felt differently.”
Claudia Pettway Charley is a Gee’s Bend Quilter and Community Manager at Nest, an organization. She said that in a statement sent via email, the collaboration “was a great way to bring our designs to a wider audience.”
She said, “We didn’t know how big this campaign would become and what it would mean for our community.”
Due to the limited job opportunities in Gee’s Bend many fourth generation quilters left the area in order to work as teachers, daycare workers, home health care aides and in the military.
Pettway West says, “We were more dreamers as the next generation.”
The national recognition of the program has brought about positive changes. More visibility – from museum exhibits, academic research and a U.S. Postal Service Stamp Collection — hasn’t always translated into economic benefits. According to Nest, the average income in Boykin is $12,000 and still below the poverty level.
Lauren Cross, Gail Oxford Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts, The Huntington Museum of Art, says: “This is a group that, even today, needs to be recognized, and it needs economic revitalization.” “So I’m in favor of any economic opportunities, that you know, go back to them.”
She says that Target’s particular line is not connected to the origins of the group and its handmade practice. This problem is a distillation of the challenge that arises when something handmade and tied to deep traditions goes national and corporate.
Cross: “On the one hand, you want to preserve those stories and that feeling of authenticity.”
She asks “How do you reach an even larger audience?”
Source: ABC News