Home

Gearldine Westbrook

"Housetop" variation (detail), 1982

NAVIGATION
Home
About
Help
View Cart

About the Artwork

Gearldine Westbrook (1919–2016), "Housetop" variation (detail), 1982

Corduroy and cotton, 94 x 78 in.; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation

Gearldine Westbrook’s 1982 sixteen-block “Housetop” quilt is typical of its time. It is made entirely of Sears corduroy obtained from the Freedom Quilting Bee, with its dominant colors called “avocado leaf” and “cherry red” in the Sears catalog. Westbrook was in her sixties when she made the quilt, older than most women who undertook to work with corduroy, and she never used the quilt. She remembers making it because “I just want to see if l can do it.”

About the Collection

In 1972, the Freedom Quilting Bee, a sewing cooperative based in Alberta, Alabama, near Gee's Bend, secured a contract with Sears, Roebuck, to produce corduroy pillow covers. Made of wide-wale cotton corduroy, the covers came in a variety of colors, including "gold," "avocado leaf," "tangerine," and "cherry red." Production of the Sears pillow covers left little room for personal creativity, as labor at the Freedom Quilting Bee was divided to maximize daily output. Yet despite the standardized and repetitive process involved in producing the pillow covers, the availability of corduroy, a fabric seldom used before by the Gee's Bend quiltmakers, stimulated a profound creative response. Leftover lengths and scraps of corduroy were taken home by workers at the Bee. Given to friends and family or bundled for sale within the community, the scraps were then transformed from standardized remnants into vibrant and individualized works of art.

Popular Images

Supporting the Artists

Souls Grown Deep Artists
Fostering Economic Empowerment
Through a pioneering revenue-sharing model, Souls Grown Deep has made artists or their estates equal partners in profits from the sale of all prints and frames. Purchases are a great way to directly support Black artists from the American South and the mission of Souls Grown Deep to promote their work and support their communities by fostering economic empowerment, racial and social justice, and educational advancement.

About our Prints

0
Made to Order
On-Demand Printing
All products are produced on-demand, in accordance with stringent production protocols designed to ensure consistent and superior quality.
0
Premium Materials
Archival Quality
We exclusively use 230 gsm archival paper and gallery-quality canvas substrates in our production process. Our 12-color pigment ink printers deliver precise color, sharp images, and fine detail.
0
Match Your Style
Customization
Customize your print by choosing the image size, substrate, and frame moulding. We offer a selection of high-quality frame options that you can tailor to suit the image and your style.