Design Concept

The design for this quilt began in 1990 with a simple line drawing of a pelican grooming itself. I got the drawing out several times in 1991 and played with the design, changing it and expanding it in different ways. When it was time to make the quilt, the final sketch was translated into a full sized drawing.

Since the theme of the quilt is more about letting the imagination fly than it is about the pelican as a species of bird, I chose fantasy colors for my pelican. The bird itself is pieced from fabric dyed in various gradations of blue, green, and turquoise. He is surrounded by ribbons of rainbow colors, and a swirling warm toned background.

The inner borders of the quilt are striped and hand woven ikat fabric. The 8" outer border was string pieced from the graduated warm hues used in the background, broken occasionally by rainbow colors. The machine quilting was done freehand, with no marking.

On the back of the quilt is a variation of the traditional "Flying Geese" pattern. My use of a traditional quilt pattern on the back of this contemporary art quilt is my tribute to the creativity of the many anonymous quilt artists of the past.

Exhibitions:

• NEW WAVE QUILTS II: INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS, 1992, (invitational exhibition, traveling to SOGO department store art galleries throughout Japan
• MID-ATLANTIC QUILT FESTIVAL, 1993, Williamsburg, VA (second place)
• AMERICAN QUILTERS SOCIETY SHOW, 1993, Paducah, KY
• CELEBRATION OF EXCELLENCE (Invitational for former AQS Best of Show winners and new work) 1994, Museum of the American Quilters Society, Paducah, KY
• SPECTRUM: THE TEXTILE ART OF CARYL BRYER FALLERT, Traveling Solo Exhibition, 1996-1998 Museum of the American Quilters Society, Paducah, KY, Illinois Art Gallery, Chicago, IL, Illinois State Museum Gallery, Lockport, IL, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL, Dunedin fine Art Center, Dunedin FL, New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA

Publications

• QUILTERS NEWSLETTER MAGAZINE, June 1993, p.12
• AMERICAN QUILTER, Fall, 1993 p.48
• AWARD WINNING QUILTS AND THEIR MAKERS, 1994: Vol. IV. AQS Books pp. 170-171
• THE QUINTESSENTIAL QUILT, Commemorative Catalogue of the 1994 International Quilt Festival, p. 28
• THE COMPLETE BOOK OF MACHINE QUILTING, Robbie and Tony Fanning, 1994, Chilton, p. 2
• CARYL BRYER FALLERT: A SPECTRUM OF QUILTS 1983-1995, 1996, AQS Books, pp. 44,45
• SPECTRUM: THE TEXTILE ART OF CARYL BRYER FALLERT, New England Quilt Museum, 1997,exhibition postcard
• THE SUN, Lowell, MA, Sunday Nov. 9 1997, p. B 1
• QUILT WORLD, January, 1998, p 24
• AMERICAN STYLE, 1999: Spring, pp. 5