Lee Bendolph is a member of the Gee’s Bend Collective of quilt-makers, based in Gee’s Bend, Alabama. The tradition of quilting is deeply engrained in African American history, and the distinctive geometric and improvisational style of Gee’s Bend quilters has been passed down through generations from the eighteenth century. In 2005 Paulson Press invited Lee Bendolph and her daughter, Louisiana Bendolph, to create a series of intaglio prints. To translate the texture of textiles into a new medium, Lee Bendolph coated copper plates with beeswax, then impressed the wax using fabric quilt maquettes made from used clothing. The texture of the clothing was then chemically etched into the plates. In this aquatint and etching, the overlapping, textured elements evoke Lee Bendolph’s traditional textile medium and add depth and dimension to the work.

Gallery label from

Studio Visit: Selected Gifts from Agnes Gund, 2018

Medium Aquatint and etching
Dimensions plate: 31 13/16 x 35 13/16" (80.8 x 91 cm); sheet: 40 13/16 x 43 11/16" (103.7 x 111 cm)
Publisher Paulson Press, Berkeley
Printer Paulson Press, Berkeley
Edition 50
Credit Acquired through the generosity of Agnes Gund
Object number 242.2007
Department Drawings and Prints

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Mary Lee Bendolph

Mary Lee Bendolph

American, born 1935 2 works online

Mary Lee Bendolph is one of the foremost strip quilters associated with Gee’s Bend, Alabama, a rural African American community located in a remote bend of the Alabama River and surrounded on three sides by water.

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