Pearlie Kennedy Pettway (1920–1982) was an American quilter. She was among the quilters of Gee's Bend. Her works are in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. Pearlie Kennedy was born in

Boykin, Alabama Boykin, also known as Gee's Bend, is an African American majority community and census-designated place in a large bend of the Alabama River in Wilcox County, Alabama. As of the 2020 census, its population was 208. The Boykin Post Office A ...

(Gee's Bend) in 1920. She had a brother, Herman Kennedy. She married Horace Pettway, who was the brother of her brother's wife, Mary Elizabeth Pettway. Pettway created her ''Triangles'' quilt around 1960. The quilt, also known as ''Triangles Creating Squares-within-Squares (Housetop) Motif'', is made from cotton sacking material. It is included in the collection of the

, a gift of the

Souls Grown Deep Foundation Souls Grown Deep Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting the work of leading contemporary African American artists from the Southeastern United States. Its mission is to include their contributio ...

in 2014. Once clothing was no longer able to be mended, Pettway would use the material from coverall pants, dresses, and skirts to create quilts. Her quilt ''Bars'', made 1950, was crafted using cotton and denim work-clothes. According to her daughter Florida Irby, Pettway also sewed clothing using 25 lb. flour sacks and cloth that she acquired in

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

, using the leftover fabric to make quilts. Pettway died in 1982 in Boykin.

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Pearlie Kennedy Pettway
Souls Grown Deep Foundation. 1920 births 1982 deaths Gee's Bend quilters 20th-century American textile artists 20th-century American women artists 20th-century women textile artists African-American women artists 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists {{US-artist-stub