The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum recently unveiled a new student and community art exhibition in the Taylor Swift Education Center titled “A Community of Artists”. The exhibition features quilts, inspired by Gee’s Bend quilters, made by local high school students in partnership with Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and individuals from Smart Art + Craft Supplies — an organization that serves adults with intellectual disabilities. In 2024, both groups were invited to the museum’s Haley Gallery to see an exhibition that included new works by Gee’s Bend quilters.
During the MNPS schools’ visit, the students met several Gee’s Bend quilters, who discussed their individual creative processes and worked with students as they constructed their own quilt squares by piecing together repurposed fabrics to make abstract designs. Later, with teacher guidance at school, students assembled their individual squares into a larger community quilt to represent their local communities and the artistic influence of Gee’s Bend quilters.
Smart Art + Craft Supplies participants took inspiration from their visit and created their own quilt.
Gee’s Bend, Alabama, is home to a celebrated community of female quilters whose artistic traditions have been passed down through generations. These quilters are direct descendants of enslaved people who worked on the Jospeh Gee cotton plantation, located about 85 miles west of Montgomery. Today, the Gee’s Bend quilters are widely recognized for creating distinctive abstract designs by stitching together scraps of fabric, including clothing. Their quilts are featured in the collections of the Legacy Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, among other institutions.
Visit the museum’s website to meet the artists and learn more about the exhibition.
Admission to the exhibit is included with museum tickets, which can be purchased on the museum’s website.
The museum offers free admission for local youth and discounted admission for up to two accompanying adults. Providing an opportunity for locals to explore the museum and the history of country music, the free and discounted admission applies to those living in Davidson and its bordering counties – Cheatham, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson. Proof of residency is required. For more information, please visit website or inquire at the Museum Box Office.
Museum programs for schools are funded in part by American Airlines; Chet Atkins Music Education Fund of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee; CMA; CMA Foundation; Dollar General Literacy Foundation; Don Gibson American Music Foundation; The Hello in There Foundation; The Les Paul Foundation; The Memorial Foundation; Metro Arts; Middle Tennessee Electric SharingChange; Nashville Predators Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; PNC Grow Up Great; and the Tennessee Arts Commission.
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