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Loretta Pettway

Life

Loretta Pettway was born in 1943 in Boykin, Alabama. She first learned to quilt by assisting her grandmother, with whom she lived. Loretta’s mother left when she was 7 or 8, and her father married another woman. She didn’t have the opportunity to attend much school, working on a family farm every day, marrying young, and eventually having seven children. Pettway described her husband as abusive:

“He was a drinker, he was a gambler, he was a smoker. He had a lot of habits. I didn’t have no habits. Couldn’t afford them. My husband was real jealous, beat me up if he see me talking to a man.” – Loretta Pettway

Works on Display

Quilt Log Cabin (Courthouse Steps) Bricklayer (local name) - In the Collection of the MFA Houston
Quilt Log Cabin (Courthouse Steps)
Bricklayer (local name) – In the Collection of the MFA Houston
Lazy Gal Bars quilt - In the Collection of the MET
In the Collection of the MET
Medallion quilt - In the Collection of the MET
Medallion quilt – In the Collection of the MET
Housetop Variation - In the Collection of the Tinwood Alliance
Housetop Variation – In the Collection of the Tinwood Alliance
Two-sided quilt: Rectangular blocks & "Log Cabin" variation - In the Collection of the VMFA
Two-sided quilt: Rectangular blocks & “Log Cabin” variation – In the Collection of the VMFA
Works in the Possession of Souls Grown Deep

Interview with Loretta Pettway (From Souls Grown Deep)

Four Block Strip Quilt

Four Block Strip Quilt

“Loretta Pettway.” Loretta Pettway | Souls Grown Deep, www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/loretta-pettway. Accessed 7 May 2025.

“Loretta Pettway: Gee’s Bend | Paulson Fontaine Press”. paulsonfontainepress.com.