Design Concept

original photo 8-21-2022

dye-painted fabric by Caryl

In the Spring of 2022, I planted a group of hybrid dahlias in front of my studio window, so I could see them while sitting at my computer. One of the things we enjoy about living in a forest is watching the deer and other wildlife as they wander past our windows. The deer are also the bane of anyone trying to grow a garden. They are not supposed to like dahlias; however, they don’t seem to have received that memo. One day in August, when the dahlias were in their prime, a doe showed up and started taking a bite out of each blossom, while looking right at us as we watched her through the window. I grabbed my camera and managed to get a shot of her with her mouth stuffed with a primo bloom.

I opened my photo in Corel Photo-Paint, erased the background, and painted out several of the flowers and anything else I didn’t want to quilt around. I found one of my hand painted fabrics that picked up the colors in the photo and had the perfect textures to create an abstract background for the dahlias. I photographed the fabric and added it to my altered photograph. I designed binding strips to coordinate with the digitally collaged images and had everything digitally printed by Spoonflower. The actual dye-painted fabric was used on the back of the quilt.

Exhibitions:

• Photos, Pixels, & Pizzazz: Digital Quilts by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Special exhibition, Road to California Quilters Conference, Ontario, CA, January 17-21, 2023
• Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Hampton Roads Convention Center, Hampton, VA, February 23-26, 2023 (Second Place: Wall Quilts)
• What's for Lunch, Peninsula Fiber Artists Exhibition, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Port Angeles, WA, March 17 - May 15, 2023
• Houston Quilt Festival, Judged Show, George Brown Convention Center, Houston, TX, November 1-5, 2023
• Photos, Pixels, & Pizzazz: Recent Quilts by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Iowa Quilt Museum, Winterset Iowa, December 12, 2023 - March 10, 2023
• Photos, Pixels, & Pizzazz: Recent Quilts by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, Golden CO, 7/22 – 10/19, 2024
• A Life in Color: 50-year Retrospective Solo Exhibition, National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY, March 14-October 7, 2025

Publications

• Quiltfolk, issue 32, p. 29 (feature article)