Frost Feathers #1 was made especially for Inspiration, Interpretation, Improvisation, a special exhibition in Germany. Quilts for the exhibition were inspired individual pieces by graphic artists. I chose an untitled graphic by artist Paul Jenkins as my inspiration because it had the same flow of colors that I use in many of my own hand painted fabrics.

Instead of using the image of brush strokes found in the Francis graphic, I chose to interpret frost feathers. One of the pleasures of living in a 120 year old farm house is waking up on cold winter mornings to find frost covering the windows. A close look at the frost patterns reveals a world of crystal splendor. By placing a warm thumb on the window, one can melt a small oval of frost, and then watch the frost feathers as they reemerge from the edges and meet in the middle.

To create the image in the quilt, I drew frost feather patterns on paper until I had one I liked. I enlarged the drawing and cut the shapes from fabric that had been dyed in rainbow hues. These shapes were appliqued to a white background fabric. The entire piece is quilted in the patterns of ice crystals with many different colors of acrylic topstitching thread.

Frost Feathers #2 was created in exactly the same way, using the negative image left after the fabric for Frost Feathers #1 had been cut out.  Although these two quilts went to Germany and Canada respectively for their first exhibitions, they had hung side-by-side in many subsequent shows.

Frost Feathers #1

• Inspiration, Interpretation, Improvisation, 2001, Germany, Feb. 3-16 Quilt & Art, Postfach 12 54, 63152 Muhlheim am Main, Kloster Irsee, Mar. 25- ??, Early May, "Art In Buscher's Wine Celler", USA 2001 Orlando, Quilt Market, May and October. 

Frost Feathers #2

• Caryl Bryer Fallert: A Sense of Wonder, solo exhibition at the Burlington Arts Center, Burlington, ON, Canada, Feb. 28- Mar.30. 2001
• Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry: 40 Years of Color, Light, & Motion,
  • Nixon Centre for Performing & Visual Arts, Newnan, GA January 9 - February 17, 2017
  • Texas Quilt Museum, La Grange, TX • March 30 - June 25, 2017

• The Chicago Athenaeum, 190 S. Roselle Rd., Schaumburg, IL 60193
  January 4- March 10, 2002
• "Evolving Styles - 20 Years of Color & Design", Solo Exhibition: LaConner Quilt Museum, LaConner WA, March 16 - May 15, 2005
• Caryl Bryer Fallert: A Retrospective, New England Quilt Museum, Lowell, MA, August 20 - October 31, 2015
• Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry: 40 Years of Color, Light, & Motion,
  • University Museum, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, January 26 - April 16, 2016
  • Mitchell Museum, Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, Mt. Vernon, IL, July 31-October 9, 2016
• 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