Mertlene Perkins

Mertlene Perkins  (1917 - 2015)

"Making quilts was my enjoyment. I been doing that since I was old enough. My mother taught me. My grandmother, too. But I just make up my own quilts. I really don't follow nobody's ideas but mine."

Mertlene’s work was included in the first major museum exhibition introducing Gee’s Bend to the art world in 2002, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, originating at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Additional museum venues for this exhibition include the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Orlando Museum of Art, The Walters Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, the Speed Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum and the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Work by Mertlene Perkins is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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