"Flower Garden"

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    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
c. 1975
Corduroy and cotton
87 x 66 inches
Collection of
Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

Controlling the six sides of a hexagon is more a technical feat than an optical one. Only the surest seamstresses take on these honeycombs of fabric, although in typical Gee's Bend fashion, artists such as Essie, Arlonzia, and Mensie Lee Pettway have made "Flower Garden" variations from Sears corduroy, a dense and hard-to-sew material that increases the difficulties hexagons present.