African-American Vernacular Art:
Secret Language, A Hidden Tradition

Gee's Bend Quilters, Artist Lonnie Holley, and Curator/Writer William Arnett to
Appear in Program at Intuit Saturday January 22, 2005

Press release:
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art and the Illinois Humanities Council will present African American Vernacular Art: A Secret Language, A Hidden Tradition, a lecture and panel discussion featuring women quilters from Gee's Bend, nationally-recognized quilter Mozell Benson, artist Lonnie Holley, and scholar, curator, and writer William Arnett, on Saturday, January 22 at 2 p.m. at Intuit, 756 N. Milwaukee Ave. This presentation is a rare and unique opportunity to learn about the African American vernacular tradition of visual art. This event is free and open to the public and is co-sponsored by the Illinois Humanities Council and Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.

African American Vernacular Art: A Secret Language, A Hidden Tradition will begin with a slide lecture by Arnett, co-curator of the traveling exhibition The Quilts of Gee's Bend. Arnett will discuss vernacular art by focusing on the art of Lonnie Holley, quilter Mozell Benson (who is from Lee County, Alabama), and the Gee's Bend quilters -- African American women of Gee's Bend, an isolated area in Alabama, who created quilts in the improvised vernacular tradition for more than a century. Arnett is the co-author and co-editor of the critically acclaimed The Quilts of Gee's Bend and Gee's Bend: The Women and Their Quilts, as well as the two volume Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South. Arnett's current projects include two traveling exhibitions, "Thornton Dial in the 21st century," and "Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt," both organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Arnett's lecture will be followed by a panel discussion and an opportunity to ask the artists questions. Artist Lonnie Holley and quilter Mozell Benson will be present with Gee's Bend quilters Mary Lee Bendolph, Arlonzia Pettway, Nettie Young, Annie Mae Young, Essie Bendolph Pettway, China Pettway, Lucy Mingo, Rita Mae Pettway, Lousiana Pettway Bendolph.

Artist Lonnie Holley's work straddles the boundaries between outsider and contemporary art. Initially known through his carvings, he is perhaps most widely recognized for his sculptures made from found and recycled materials. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and publications, and is included in a number of private and public collections, including the Smithsonian, the High Museum, The Milwaukee Art Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among many others. He currently lives and works in Harpersville and Birmingham, Alabama.

Quilts by Gee's Bend creators and nationally-recognized quilter Mozell Benson from Lee County, Alabama will be featured in the slide presentation and discussion. These artists' utilitarian quilts are created in the African American improvised tradition, and their final works are a true example of thrift and creativity. Their innovative and often minimalist approach to design is reminiscent of 20th century abstract painters, and contrast the ordered regularity associated with many styles of Euro-American quiltmaking. Gee's Bend is located in southwest Alabama on a sliver of land five miles long and eight miles wide, a virtual island surrounded by a bend in the Alabama River. Without a ferry service for decades, the residents were confined by the river unless they made the hour-long drive to the county seat of Camden, directly across the river from Gee's Bend.

African American Vernacular Art: A Secret Language, A Hidden Tradition is sponsored by the Illinois Humanities Council and Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. This event was made possible with the support of the Tinwood Alliance in Atlanta, GA. For more information, please contact Intuit at 312.243.9088, www.art.org, or intuit@art.org. Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting education and appreciation of self-taught art.