Design Concept

This quilt is based on a photograph I took in Antarctica in February 2020 at an abandoned whaling station on Deception Island, which is actually the flooded caldera of an active volcano. The whaling station was used to produce whale oil from 1912-1931 and then abandoned, leaving behind steel tanks and furnaces that corroded from the salt spray and the sulfurous steam rising from the water’s edge. They were further damaged by a volcanic eruption and resulting mud slide in 1969. I found some interesting patterns in the corrosion on the decaying equipment. The image for Deception Decomposition #3 was cropped from one of these photos. The image was reshaped, recolored, and digitally painted. The image was duplicated and recolored again in complimentary colors (directly opposite on the color wheel). The duplicated images were rearranged to make a composition with repeating shapes and lines that continue from one side to the other. The final design was printed on cotton fabric by Spoonflower. It is very heavily quilted, to the level of thread painting, with many different colors of polyester and acrylic thread. In the thread painted areas, I used two colors of thread together to blend the colors and a narrow zigzag stitch to create a scribbly pattern. The backing fabric was hand painted. The binding strips are one-of-a-kind fabric, designed especially for this quilt.

Exhibitions:

• Reflections of Light: Recent Works by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA, July 13-October 30, 2022
• Photos, Pixels, & Pizzazz: Digital Quilts by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Special exhibition, Road to California Quilters Conference, Ontario, CA, January 17-21, 2023
• Photos, Pixels, & Pizzazz: Special Exhibit,
• Quiltfest Greenville, Greenville Convention Center, Greenville, SC, April 20-22, 2023
• Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, September 14-17, 2023
• Pacific International Quilt Festival, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA, October 12-15, 2023
• Photos, Pixels, & Pizzazz: Recent Quilts by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Iowa Quilt Museum, Winterset Iowa, December 12, 2023 - March 10, 2023

Publications

• None as of 11/12/2023