Arlonzia Pettway (1923–2008) was an American artist associated with the

Gee's Bend Boykin, also known as Gee's Bend, is an African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The te ...

group of quilters. She began quilting at age 13. In 2006, her quilt ''"Chinese Coins" variation'' appeared on a US Postal service stamp as part of a series commemorating Gee's bend quilters. Her work is included in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the High Museum of Art.

Life

Arlonzia Pettway was raised on the Pettway Plantation by her father and mother until 1941 when her father died. At 18, she and her brother Ike took over the responsibilities of the farm after their father's death. They primarily raised cotton,

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

s, and

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...

es. Later, they also raised

cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

s and turnips for a company in Montgomery. In 1940, Pettway's childhood log-cabin style home was replaced with a "project house" by the federal government. It included three bedrooms, a kitchen, dining room, and two bathrooms with no running water. The family did not get indoor plumbing until 1974, nor electricity until 1964. They bought their first telephone in 1976. Pettway married Jennie Pettway's son, Bizzell, when she was 20 years old. They farmed and raised twelve children together – four girls and eight boys – in Pettway's family home. Her husband died in 1964 and she died in 2008.

Work

Considering herself a resourceful person, Arlonzia Pettway made most of her things herself. She believed her skills were inherent, saying "I just had a head for doing anything. It was just born in me to make things." She recalled making, beds, bookshelves, TV cabinets and planters out of river buoys. When she was nine years old, she made dresses for her and her sister out of blue taffeta, which were the pride of her mother. Her mother likely taught her to sew and quilt before the age of nine.

References

1923 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American artists 20th-century American women artists Gee's Bend quilters African-American women artists 21st-century American artists 21st-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American women {{US-artist-stub