Loretta Pettway Bennett facts for kids

Loretta Pettway Bennett is a talented American artist, born on December 29, 1960. She is famous for her beautiful quilts, just like her mother, Qunnie Pettway, and other amazing artists from a place called Gee's Bend. Loretta works hard to keep her community's special traditions alive for kids and grown-ups in the future. She is also connected to the Freedom Quilting Bee, where her mother used to work.

Growing Up

Loretta Pettway Bennett was born on a farm in Gee's Bend, Alabama. Her parents were Qunnie Pettway and Tom O. Pettway. Loretta and her brothers and sisters often helped on their grandfather Tank Pettway's farm. They grew crops like cotton, corn, peanuts, and sweet potatoes.

Loretta shared something interesting about names in Gee's Bend. Many people there have the last name Pettway. So, they often get middle names that show who their father is. This helps make sure no one accidentally marries a close relative. For example, her father and grandfather had the middle initial "O." for Ottaway.

Life on the farm was simple. Loretta's family home did not have running water or paved roads until 1975. At that time, Loretta was 15 years old. Before then, they carried water from neighbors' homes or nearby wells.

When Loretta was in seventh grade, the schools in Gee's Bend changed. They were part of the desegregation process. Soon after, the local schools closed. To keep learning, Loretta had to ride a crowded school bus for two hours each way. This made it hard to join after-school activities. Still, Loretta finished school. She married her high school sweetheart, Lovett "Bennett" Bennett, on July 7, 1979.

Life After School

After graduating, Loretta's husband joined the U.S. Army. For the next twenty years, Loretta and her family moved often. They lived in places like Germany, El Paso, Texas, and Georgia. While living in Germany and Texas, they traveled a lot. They explored different parts of Europe and the American Southwest.

Loretta and her husband raised three boys. In 1998, Loretta's grandmother, Candis Pettway, passed away. After this, the family moved back to Gee's Bend, Alabama. Loretta trained to be a medical and dental assistant. She also found time to start quilting again. She worked with her mother, Qunnie, on many projects.

The Gee's Bend Quilters

The Gee's Bend quiltmakers are a group of African-American women. They have been making quilts for a long time in a town now called Boykin, Alabama. Both Loretta's mother, Qunnie, and her grandmother, Candis Mosley Pettway, were Gee's Bend quilters.

Loretta's mother first showed her how to quilt when she was about five or six years old. At that young age, Loretta was only allowed to thread needles for the quilters. Her mother and aunts taught her more sewing skills each summer. Loretta's first complete quilt was a baby blanket. She made it for a home economics class project.

One of Loretta's famous quilts is made from her husband's and son's old jeans. This shows a main idea of the Gee's Bend quilters. They believe in making something beautiful and useful from things that might be thrown away.

Loretta's Art Career

As Loretta traveled with her family, she noticed how different cultures used colors. In Germany, she saw that people didn't use many bright colors on their homes or clothes. But in springtime, things changed. Houses were decorated with colorful flower boxes. This showed Loretta another side of Germany.

Some of Loretta's quilts, made in the early 2000s, use two colors in blocks and strips. These designs might remind you of art styles like Bauhaus or Piet Mondrian. Loretta also shared craft ideas with her German neighbors. They taught her how to knit, and she even sold some of her mother's quilts there.

Loretta truly understood how important Gee's Bend quilts were in 2002. She saw them displayed at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. She said, "There my eyes were opened, and it touched me in a way as to question myself: Can I make a quilt that someday might hang on the wall of a museum?"

Loretta wanted to continue her family's quilting legacy. She applied for and received a special grant. This grant was from the Alabama State Archive Council on the Arts. It allowed her to study the details of Gee's Bend quiltmaking. With this grant, she and her mother created a "Pine Burr" quilt. This quilt is the state quilt of Alabama. Loretta gave this quilt to the Alabama Council of the Arts. It now hangs at the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Loretta Bennett's quilts are kept in important art collections. These include the Studio Museum in Harlem, The Legacy Museum, and the Binghamton University Art Museum. Her quilts Sew Low and Vegetation are part of the Eskenazi Health Art Collection.

Loretta's Quilts

Loretta Bennett has made many quilts throughout her life. Her very first quilt, made at age 13, had a flower garden pattern. Between 2003 and 2006, she completed about 25 quilts.

Loretta usually plans her quilt designs on paper first. She colors them with crayons. Then, she makes the quilts using old clothes. She gets these clothes from family, friends, or thrift shops. This keeps the Gee's Bend idea of creative reuse alive. She works on her quilts at home, using different rooms for different steps.

One of Loretta's unique styles is to take a single quilt square. She then makes it the full size of a whole quilt. This is different from repeating a small pattern many times.

Some of Loretta Bennett's well-known quilts include:

• Two-Sided Geometric Quilt (2003)
• Work Clothes Strips (2003)
• Strips (2005)
• Medallion (2002)

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