Mary Lee Bendolph

American, 1935

Matriarch quilt maker Mary Lee Bendolph descends from generations of accomplished quilt makers in Boykin, Alabama, also known as Gee’s Bend. Bendolph was one of many from Gee’s Bend who accompanied Martin Luther King, Jr. in his march at Camden, Alabama, in 1965. In 1999 she was profiled in a Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize winning article, ‘Crossing Over: Mary Lee’s Vision’. Her quilt-making style marries a flair for improvisation to traditional construction techniques that emphasize rectangles and squares. Her small compositions of cloth build to create complicated compositions that occasionally contain humorous touches and autobiographical references. Her quilts have been featured in museum and gallery exhibitions, including The Quilts of Gee’s Bend and Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt. Bendolph was the featured artist in the traveling exhibition Mary Lee Bendolph, Gee’s Bend Quilts, and Beyond. Her work is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the U.S. Department of State, and the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies. The artist is represented by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland, Oregon.