Caryl Bryer Fallert - Gentry at the Wisconsin Quilt Museum

The interior of the Wisconsin Quilt Museum

 Last weekend hubby and I went to the Wisconsin Quilt Museum to see the Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry's 30 years of Quilts exhibit. WOW!

I took a lot of photographs and this blog is for all of you who won't be able to see this marvelous exhibit.

The quilt museum is in a renovated barn. It has sweeping high walls, spotlight lighting and 360 degrees of space, angles, rafters, beams and wonderful old gray wood.

Walking in and looking at the walls and hanging quilts was wonderful. You were literally surrounded by color and movement. 

Caryl unveiled her first quilt. And here it is! HUMBLE beginnings isn't it? Doesn't that give you hope for your quilting future? She started small, that is for sure. 

Rail Fence, Caryl's first quilt

 Quilts were hanging from the rafters above us. 

Reflection #18

 Some of her quilts are big, some are small. Here are some of her small ones. 

Midnight Fantasy

Giraffes in the Paintbox #2

 Some of the small wall quilts were over my head so taking straight on shots was impossible. (In case you are wondering why my photos are so distorted!) 

New Dawn

 This is the quilt she made to celebrate the new millennium. Do you remember the 'horrors' promised by Y2K?! I was living in northern Idaho at the turn of the last century and there were all kinds of people moving up there into the wilderness to escape the collapse of civilization as we know it.

Sometimes the "unknown" can inspire all kinds of irrational fears and sometimes powerful forces use those fears to magnify their own influences on our lives. Beware what you listen to.

But I digress...

Instead of focusing on the 'fear' factor, Caryl made a sweeping statement about hope and the dawning of a new day in a new age.

She writes "The Phoenix is beautiful symbol of the ability of life and beauty to arise out of decay and destruction."

As a Christian, I can surely relate to this!

I took a bunch of detail photographs so you can see her stitching and quilting up close and personal. 

Detail, New Dawn

Detail, New Dawn

Detail, New Dawn

Oops, forgot to get the name. Sorry!

Feather Flower #3

 As I said earlier, there is so much color and movement in her quilts. 

Dancing through the Blues #2

Spirogyra #5

Detail, Spirogyra #5

Dancing through the Blues I

 Flying geese flying with geese. :)

Migration #12

Detail, Migration #12

Lepidopteran #3

 This next quilt has always been one of my favorites.

Corona #3 Solar Eclipse

Detail, Corona #3 Solar Eclipse

Leap

Caryl's quilt Leap makes me want to jump out into the big wide world and embrace every adventure that comes my way! 

Cosmic Feathers #1

 Her color palette is awesome, I love the flowing pastels in this quilt.  Here is a closeup.

Detail, Cosmic Feathers #1

Chromatic Feathers #2

 Somehow this next quilt reminds me of the Beatles and their cartoon movies. Maybe from Sargent Pepper's or Yellow Submarine? I keep expecting blue meanies to come out and stamp on these guys. Lol.

Casting a Long Shadow #1

 I wish there had been a date of some of the display tags. To me, the Long Shadow quilt looks like it could have inspired the 'modern' quilt genre with it's use of negative space. 

Fibonacci Series #14

Bradford Fantasy

Aquarium #2

Forgot to get the name again - sorry!

 These older quilts made with 'high tech tucks' are kind of cool aren't they? Seems like you could do a lot more with them in landscape quilts than has been done so far. (Don't look at me for this, lol, I already have waaaay too many ideas to get down in fabric!) 

Illusion #2

On the Wings of a Dream

 Caryl made this quilt after the death of her first husband. She made it to symbolize her life as she moves forward, as she leaves the past and embraces all the new choices ahead of her.  For her, birds have the symbolic meaning of 'freedom' so she merges herself with a bird to show how she's embracing what's next in her life. 

Detail, On the Wings of a Dream

Detail, On the Wings of a Dream

Feather Study #1

 This quilt and the next were hanging high above our heads from the barn rafters. When you were in the exhibit, you really were surrounded by color and movement. The museum was a great venue for all of Caryl's quilts. 

Illusion #13

Well, that is if for me this week. Next week we'll come back to the watercolor landscape I'm working on. The design part is done and I'm starting to sew, buy you'll have to wait to see it and all the steps I'm taking.

RJR Fabrics found me the other day and asked if I am interested in designing some quilts from their Danscapes fabric line. (I am!) Soooo, I'll be busy playing with new stuff in the weeks ahead.

I really hope you enjoyed looking at Caryl's quilts. If you can get to an exhibition, I highly recommend it! The exhibit will only be here a few more weeks I think.

Take Care everyone, Stay Warm all you peoples in the North and East! It is COLD here too.

Comments/Questions welcome!