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Nectar Collector
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- Copyright © 1994 Caryl Bryer Fallert
- Size: 59" wide x 73" high
- Techniques: Hand dyed, machine quilted
- Materials: Fabric: 100% cotton
Batting: 80% cotton / 20% polyester
- Private Collection: Kauai, Hawaii
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Design Concept
original, hand-painted fabric |
This is the fourth in a series of painted whole-cloth quilts.
The fabric was painted with fiber reactive dye in an expressionistic
design. The fabric was then layered and quilted heavily by
machine. The machine quilting becomes a major design element
in this piece, providing a foreground dimension that is contrapuntal
to the painted background design. Top stitching thread in
many different colors was used, so that the stitching could
be clearly seen against the background. Most of the imagery
in the quilting came directly out of my imagination.
When I was a child, I used to lie in the back yard in the
summer and watch the clouds. After a while, I could begin
to see animals, or faces, or other pictures in the clouds.
The quilted images developed in much the same
way. I sat and looked at the painted fabric, until a picture
developed in my mind. Then I quilted the picture. Most of
the imagery is of various flowers, leaves, and weeds. These
images represent my feelings when I experience flowers and
weeds, and not any specific botanical species.
When the quilting was about three quarters finished, a friend
saw the quilt in my studio and said, "you ought to hide
a bird in it somewhere." At first I rejected this
idea. However, the next morning the large red-orange weed in
the center began to look very much like the sort of plant a
hummingbird would like, so I quilted in a hummingbird
drawing nectar from this plant. Thus the title "Nectar
Collector."
The back of the quilt is black fabric, with a
side border of commercial painted fabric. The bobbin threads
in the machine quilting are close to the colors of the top threads,
and show up clearly against the solid back.
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With the exception of the humming bird, all of the machine quilting
was done free hand, i.e. without marking the quilt top, or following
a pencil line. The sewing machine needle is my drawing tool,
and I draw with thread directly on the quilt, as it is being
quilted. I use free motion quilting to do this. "Free motion"
means that the feed dogs on my machine are lowered, and I use
a darning foot, which allows me to move the fabric freely under
the needle with my hands. Many of the motifs in my quilting
refer to traditional quilting patterns, such as the "feathered
plume". The character of this kind of quilting is unique
to each individual quilter, like handwriting or a signature.
Exhibitions and Awards:
- COLOR & VISUAL PERCEPTIONS, (juried)
Quiltfest USA, Louisville, KY
- FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA, (juried) Penn. Nat.
Q. Extravaganza, 1994, Philadelphia, PA (HONORABLE
MENTION)
- QUILT FEST OF JACKSONVILLE, 8th Annual Quilt
Show, 1994, Jacksonville, FL (FIRST
PLACE)
- DALLAS QUILT CELEBRATION '95, Market Hall,
Dallas TX
- QUILTERS HERITAGE CELEBRATION, 1995 (juried)
Lancaster, PA
- A WORLD OF QUILTS XVI, Northern Star Quilters
Invitational, 1995, Somers, NY
- MAKE BELIEVE GARDENS, 1995, (juried) Le Chassy
d'Or, Chateau-Chinon France
- SPECTRUM: THE TEXTILE ART OF CARYL BRYER
FALLERT, 1996-1978, traveling, solo exhibition: The
Museum of the American Quilter's Society, Paducah,
KY; Illinois Art Gallery, State of Illinois Bldg.,
Chicago, IL; Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL
- CONTEMPORARY QUILTS, (invitational) 1997
Everson Arts Center, Syracuse, NY
- PATTERNS OF PROGRESS, 1997 (invitational)
Autry Museum of Western Heritage, LosAngeles, CA.
- LIGHTHOUSE LEGACIES 1998, Lighthouse Quilters
Show, Racine, WI (FIRST PLACE)
- Solo Exhibition, 1999, Kauai Museum, Lihui, Hawaii
Publications:
- CARYL BRYER FALLERT: A SPECTRUM OF QUILTS,
1983-1995, 1996, AQS Books, pp. 8-9, 82-83
- THE QUILTING QUARTERLY, (National Quilting
Assoc. Inc.) Spring, 1996 p. 21
- PATTERNS OF PROGRESS: Quilts in the Machine
Age, 1997: Autry Museum of Western Heritage,
Brackman, pp. 106-107
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