Polly Bennett

Polly Mooney Bennett (1922–2003) was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective and was a member of the Freedom Quilting Bee.[1][2][3] Her work has been exhibited in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.[4]

Polly Bennett in front of her home in Alabama in 2000
(Photograph by David Raccuglia)

Biography

Daughter of Mary and Minniefield Mooney, Polly Mooney Bennett was raised in Gee's Bend, Alabama. Her parents separated in 1928.[4] She found work nursing and cooking for various white families in the area.[4] She married her husband, Mark Bennett in 1946. They maintained a farm on Rehoboth Rd. for the remainder of their lives.[4] Bennett began quilting under her mother's instruction at about eight years old. She recalls struggling at first, "...back then what I made be so much longer on one side than the other. I didn't start getting them exactly right for a long while."[4] She completed her first quilts at 15 years old and is now regarded as one of the most precise quilt makers in the Soul's Grown Deep Foundation's Collection.[4]

References
  1. Beardsley, John; Arnett, William; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts; Livingston, Jane; Arnett, Paul; Wardlaw, Alvia J. (2002). The Quilts of Gee's Bend. Tinwood Books. p. 80. ISBN 9780965376648.
  2. Callahan, Nancy (2005-04-17). The Freedom Quilting Bee: Folk Art and the Civil Rights Movement. University of Alabama Press. p. 196. ISBN 9780817352479.
  3. "College News". Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  4. "Polly Bennett | Souls Grown Deep Foundation". www.soulsgrowndeep.org. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
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