Design Concept

This quilt began with a small sketch made in 1989, shortly after returning from Australia and the Great Barrier Reef for the first time.  I have kept the sketch for many years, and have made a new interpretation almost every time I returned from a snorkeling trip. The shape of the fish bodies and tails are a kind of fantasy amalgam of many different species. The colors and patterns were inspired by parrot fish and other brilliantly-colored tropical fish.

Full size drawing on freezer paper

The quilt top began with a full size drawing on freezer paper. This was cut up to make templates for cutting my fabric. Some of the fabric was hand dyed and the rest is from the various collections I have designed for Benartex. The green and yellow dots were appliqued. The rest of the shapes were pieced, using my hybrid “applipiecing” technique. The quilting in the fish tails was done with the feed-dogs up, and the rest was free-motion quilted with the feed-dogs dropped.

Exhibitions:

• Bryerpatch Studio Gallery, Port Townsend, WA, October-December, 2014
• 30 Quilts for 30 Years: Solo, traveling exhibition celebrating 30 years of making art quilts.
  • Wisconsin Quilt Museum, Cedarburg, WI, January 14- April 12, 2015
  • LaConner Quilt Museum, LaConner WA – July 1–October 4, 2015
  • Virginia Quilt Museum, Harrisonburg, VA – October 14, - December 19, 2015
    

• Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry: 40 Years of Color, Light, & Motion, University Museum, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, January 26 - April 16, 2016
• Fantasias in Fiber & Beads: (two person show) Northwind Arts Center, Port Townsend, WA, May 5-29, 2016.
• Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry: 40 Years of Color, Light, & Motion
  • Mitchell Museum, Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, Mt. Vernon, IL, July 31-October 9, 2016
  • Nixon Centre for Performing & Visual Arts, Newnan, GA January 9 - February 17, 2017
  • Texas Quilt Museum, La Grange, TX • March 30 - June 25, 2017
• Color, Light, & Motion: Fine Art Quilts by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Art at the Old Alcohol Plant Gallery, Port Hadlock, WA, July 8-August 26, 2018
• Fiber II, A National Juried Show, Liberty Town Arts Workshop, Fredericksburg, VA, Oct. 5-28, 2018  
• Green Blue Magic, Port Townsend School of Art Gallery, Port Townsend, WA, April 1-29, 2019  
• Fur, Fangs, Feathers, & Fins, SAQA juried exhibition, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, April 2, 2022 –June 17, 2022 and traveling through December 31, 2025 (venues tba)

Publications

• None as of 7/20/21