Annie Mae Young

Annie Mae Young (American, b. 1928)

Born to sharecroppers in rural Primrose, Alabama, Young began quilting at thirteen, utilizing scrap material from old clothing, including non-traditional quilting fabrics like corduroy and denim. A prolific member of the Gee’s Bend Quilter’s Collective, she relies upon compositional improvisation – preferring to tear her fabric rather than cut it and piecing her work into long strips like a puzzle. While arthritis now prevents Young from quilting, her legacy continues in the quilts of her children.

Important Source Material:

John Beardsley, editor. Gee’s Bend: The Women and Their Quilts. Atlanta, GA: Tinwood Books; Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2002.

NHS