Polly Bennett

Polly Mooney Bennett (1922–2003) was an American artist. She is associated with the Gee's Bend quilting collective and was a member of the Freedom Quilting Bee. Her work has been exhibited in the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Biography Polly Bennett was born and raised in Boykin, Alabama, also known as Gee's Bend, in 1922. Her parents, Mary and Minniefield Mooney, separated in 1928 and left her in the care of her grandmother Mary Brown Mooney. She found work nursing and cooking for various white families in the area. She married Mark Bennett in 1946. They maintained a farm on Rehoboth Rd. for the remainder of their lives. Bennett began quilting under her mother's instruction at about eight years old. She recalls struggling at first, "...back then what I made be so much longer on one side than the other. I didn't start getting them exactly right for a long while." She completed her first quilts at 15 years old and is now regarded as one of the most precise quilt makers in the Souls Grown Deep Foundation's collection.