 |
Migration #3
Printable version
- Copyright © 1996 Caryl Bryer Fallert
- Size: 54" wide X 43" high
- Techniques: Hand dyed and painted, machine pieced,
appliqued, and quilted
- Materials: fabric: 100% cotton / batting: 80% cotton
/ 20% polyester
- Collection of Bradley University Library, Peoria, IL
See more information and details below
Larger image
|
 |
|
Design Concept
|
MIGRATION #3 is one of a series of quilts about birds and
flight. I selected Canada geese because we live in an area
of Northern Illinois, where hundreds of geese fly over almost
every day. I often watch them flying over our farm, and
imagine what it would feel like to be flying among them
as they travel from one location to another.
Although the geese are recognizable, by their shapes, I
have chosen to interpret them in colors of the imagination,
creating the illusion that each bird is lighted from within,
This quilt was designed with the assistance of a computer
drawing program. The abstract background of sky and earth
was drawn directly in the computer. The lines were created,
stretched and manipulated until they formed a harmonious
composition that suggested the movement of clouds, sky,
and wind. The line drawing was scanned, and reconverted
to a vector drawing of closed object. The shapes were filled
with gradations of solid colors, to suggest string piecing,
or with bit-maps of some of my dye painted fabrics to suggest
the areas of painted fabric in the quilt.
Drawings of a number of different birds were made by hand.
I scanned each of the drawings into the computer. The scanning
process turns the drawings into bit-maps (a series of microscopic
rectangles that look, to the naked eye like a picture of
the drawing) The bit maps of the drawings were then converted
to vector drawings in a program called Streamline. Vector
drawings consist of lines that can be changed and manipulated,
using the mouse. When the lines form closed objects, which
they did in my bird drawings, they can be filled with any
of 17 million solid colors or with patterns created by bit-maps. |
|
| Click
on details for larger images |
 |
 |
 |
|
I manipulated the shape size and attitude of each bird until
it looked exactly the way I wanted it to look. I made several
different groups of birds, adjusting the size of each bird
in the group, the angle of the heads and wings, etc. until
the birds in each group formed a harmonious composition.
The individual shapes within the birds were then filled
with color in several different ways, until I was satisfied
with them.
The group of birds were then placed on top of the background.
I tried many different arrangements of background and birds,
before settling on the final composition.
The line drawing of the background was projected onto a
piece of paper the size of the finished quilt. The individual
lines were traced, and then the large drawing was refined,
before the piecing began. The paper drawing was cut apart
to form the individual templates. Strips of fabric dyed
in color gradations were sewn to each template (a process
called "string piecing"), then the design was
pieced back together like a giant puzzle. Each shape within
the drawing became a template for cutting and piecing the
fabric.
Once the background was completed the outlines of the birds
were projected onto it to determine the correct scale. After
the scale was determined, the birds were projected onto
paper backed fusible webbing, and traced. The fusible paper
backed web became the templates for the individual shapes
within each bird. The bodies and wings of the geese were
cut from fabric that had been painted in gradations of pure
rainbow hues. After the birds were fused and sewn together,
they were machine appliqued to the background.
The quilt was backed with a piece of dye painted fabric
and cotton batting. The geese were quilted with black thread
to define the individual feathers on each bird. The background
was quilted in patterns that initially echo the birds, and
then dissolve into swoops and swirls suggesting sky, wind
and air.
This quilt was commissioned by Jean Gove, as a gift to Bradley
University Library, in honor of the ninetieth birthday of
her mother, Verial Phillips, who had a forty year career
as a teacher. Coincidentally her birthday is on the same
day as mine. Messenger #3 was installed in the library on
May 10, 1996 |
Exhibitions:
- Bradley University Library, Peoria, IL
Publications
- Quilters Gallery 1998 , (All American Crafts Annual)
p. 33
|
|
Web Site Design by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry © 1997-2022
All Rights Reserved
Bryerpatch Studio • 10 Baycliff Place • Port Townsend, WA • 98368 • USA
360-385-2568 • caryl@bryerpatch.com
•••••
|
