All Ages Artmaking: Whitney Community Quilt of Thanks 

Floor 3, Artspace

Open to all ages

Artists of all ages are invited to contribute to the Whitney Community Quilt of Thanks, inspired by Sweep by Martha Jane Pettway, on view in Shifting Landscapes.

What are you grateful for? Write or draw on your own quilt square, and a Whitney educator will help you add it to the Community Quilt of Thanks. Then take a moment to look closely at the quilt and the contributions of other Whitney visitors to see what people cherish and love. 

Martha Jane Pettway (1898–2003) was an artist and member of the group of African American quiltmakers in the rural town of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. For generations, women in this close-knit community, many of whom were descended from enslaved people, created quilts from repurposed clothing, fabric scraps, and even old sugar sacks—forging a distinct tradition of quilt-making passed down through many generations of practitioners. 

These quilts were more than blankets for warmth. They were filled with stories, memories, and the everyday strength of the women who made them. Mothers passed the tradition down to their daughters, teaching them how to quilt as a way of caring for their families and preserving their history. In quilts like Sweep, Pettway used bold strips of fabric and a pattern called the “half-log cabin” to turn ordinary materials into a dynamic composition that speaks through shape, color, and memory.