Qunnie Pettway (1943–2010), Housetop, c. 1975.
Corduroy, 82 x 74 inches; Private Collection.
Two factors lift Qunnie Pettway's concentric-squares corduroy quilt from the ordinary to the exalted. First, she has made this quilt from a particular shade of pale peach—almost like white that has aged to cream—found among the corduroy lots available to her. She juxtaposes this with a true red, making an elementally simple design. Second, she creates a frail outer edge in the quilt's binding that introduces hints of other hues—pale green, cerise, and yellow. The momentum of this deceptively geometric and ingenuous pattern is, by its eccentric and wholly contrived details, transformed into an immensely moving image.
Qunnie Pettway (1943-2010) was taught how to quilt by her mother, Candis Pettway, and after she got married in 1960, she started making pattern quilts herself. Her first paying job was working for the Freedom Quilting Bee, and she frequently brought home ornate fabric scraps from the bee and made improvisational versions of traditional patterns. A frequent collaborator with her daughter, Loretta Pettway Bennett, a “Pine Burr” quilt they made together was designated the official quilt block of the state of Alabama by the legislature in 1997.
Qunnie Pettway’s work is in the permanent collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Learn more about Qunnie Pettway here.
