Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry: 40 Years of Color, Light, & Motion
Ms. Fallert-Gentry has been a creative soul her entire life. She put it to serious use in school; receiving her degrees and formal training at Wheaton College as well as Illinois State University, College of DuPage, and the University of Wisconsin. But in 1982 she found that quilting provided the best medium as an outlet for her creativity. On generous loan from the artist one can view several masterful pieces at the University of Mississippi Museum. The UM Museum possesses a reputation for hosting exhibits of all types of artwork, from sculptures to paintings, and all are quite carefully chosen for display.
Along the winding, well-lit passage ways, the exhibit aptly named "40
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It is a difficult thing to limit this review to just a few quilts as there are many ways to interpret each piece. A great quilt with which to begin, however, is "Celebration # 2", which is a piece of substantial size measuring 64" x 84" and consisting of hand dyed and painted cotton, was magnificently crafted in 2015. The vibrant fuchsias, blues, greens, and purples begin to swirl resembling streams of colored lights dancing in a summer breeze, intertwining, and embracing one another as they move. It is a vibrant and modern piece, not like your grandmother 's quilt except maybe in dimensions. A kaleidoscope of colors captivates one’s eyes as they move past the upper layer of curves, looking deeper into the quilt at the background that appears to lay as though it were a still pool of water and oil from which the streams of color were formed, bringing the quilt to life.
Another standout is "New Dawn", quilted in 2000 in honor of the new millennium. Quite large, coming in at 63" x 78", this hand dyed and hand painted, cotton polyester blend quilt depicts a phoenix rising from the flames of its rebirth. The entire quilt is about new beginnings, recovering from the death and destruction endured by those with the will to survive. However, choices still remain in the future. As the phoenix, in all its golden and amber glory rises, has the opportunity to choose life or death yet again in its
The both stories give you a clear understanding of what the characters think about the quilts and why they're so important.The main idea behind the quilts is to let the reader know what the characters have been through and what memories were formed in their lives.In “Everyday Use”, The quilt was made from their grandma's old dress and the grandpa army uniform. In “My Mother Pieced Quilts”, the mom used old dresses and nightgowns.The Daughter reflects on her mother's memories when she runs down and up of the quilt.There are sculptures of their family and in the quilt, there's death and life, love.The quilt becomes a
Fran admired and collected other artist’s work for her home, but also as part of her trove of infinite objects that often made their way into her art. From the mad jumble of countless boxes and bags in her studio came often playful “bricolage” works of beauty, humor and imagination. She taught for many years at the New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, the Newark Museum and was actively teaching until just weeks before her death last year. An award-winning artist, she exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian, Victoria and Albert Museum, and in galleries throughout New Jersey. She began her eight-decade career as a fashion designer before moving into painting, printmaking, found art sculpture, book and paper making, and other multi-media arts. Fran studied art at the American School of Fine Arts, Newark School of Fine Arts, and Fairleigh Dickinson University. The works in this exhibition were generously donated by Fran’s family to The 1978 Maplewood Arts Center. Proceeds from all sales will benefit the center as well as public art in the
In “The Century Quilt”, the speaker illustrates the importance of the family quilt in which determines her future heritage to pass on. The speaker states “My sister and I were in love with Meema’s Indian blanket.” to create nostalgic tone and to relive a sentimental moment in her life. The blanket provided peace, love, and safety to the speaker during the times she spent underneath it. “I remembered how I’d planned to inherit that blanket, how we used to wrap ourselves at play in its folds and be chieftains and
One pleasant afternoon, my classmates and I decided to visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to begin on our museum assignment in world literature class. According to Houston Museum of Fine Art’s staff, MFAH considers as one of the largest museums in the nation and it contains many variety forms of art with more than several thousand years of unique history. Also, I have never been in a museum in a very long time especially as big as MFAH, and my experience about the museum was unique and pleasant. Although I have observed many great types and forms of art in the museum, there were few that interested me the most.
On viewing her work, I am reminded of the traditional art of quilt making, an art once dismissed as “women’s work” but reevaluated by the Pattern and Decoration movement during the second wave of feminism during the 1970’s. Historically quilt makers have used its qualities to communicate political and social messages. For example, the Abolition quilts made during the US Civil war era were inscribed with messages decrying the evils of slavery. However, Gower uses the repetitions of the motifs and tessellations of quilt making practice to draw attention to the excesses of mass
physically and mentally, quilting has acted as an art that transcends racial barriers and to bring
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was one of the most influential African-American, female leaders during the Antebellum era. As an advocate for equality and integration, Cary contributed an immense amount of effort towards establishing the foundation of black livelihood. Though labeled inferior on the basis of ethnicity and gender, she was a fierce, headstrong, successful activist in a political world dominated by white males. This essay will analyze Cary’s approach to solidifying African American safety and nationalism during the 19th century.
Quilting can also be used for expression of oneself or for social commentary. Back in the 1800’s when there were many wars women would usually make quilts because they were what was needed in those times and the fabric was often hard to come by and it was usually saved for clothes making.” It was a means to escape from the isolation of their lifestyle and it allowed them the artistic freedom to express themselves. The quilts produced by our ancestors told stories about their lifestyles that could not be captured by pen and paper. Every quilt we see today, regardless of when the quilt was made, relates a story. The types of fabrics, the design of the quilt, the signature of the quilter, all reveal an intimate story of the woman or man who made the quilt.” (Meeske,Quilt Me a Story) They used quilting to get out of the bleakness and horrible things that were going on in their lives at the moment and put how they felt in the quilts. Around the mid-1800’s women quilted a lot more to show artistic talent, political views, and even their emotions. “Prior to a woman’s ability to vote, some women used their artistic talents and expressed their political views through a quilt. The issue of slavery in the United States in the mid-1800s led to quilt patterns called Slave Chain
The quilts are used in the representation of what heritage means to Mama and Maggie versus Dee’s view of them. Mama describes that:
“Aunt Ida Pieces a Quilt” is a poem about an elderly woman who is stitching a quilt in memory of her great nephew, Junie, who has died of AIDS. It is a remarkable poem about a close knit family who comes together to help each other during hardship. Like “An Indian Story” this poem speaks of long family traditions and illustrates the importance of family. “My mama and my mama’s mama taught me”, says Aunt Ida (49). The two writings are also similar, in that, the main maternal figure also makes sacrifices for her family. This is illustrated when Aunt Ida helps sew a quilt for her family even though, as she describes, “My eyes ain’t good now and my fingers lock in a fist, they so eaten up with arthritis” (49).It is evident throughout the text that this family spends a great deal of time together and have a very strong bond.
Different cultures around the world utilize different techniques to pass on family histories. The Hmong culture makes story tapestries and West African tribes use song and oral story to pass on their traditions. In the poem, “The Century Quilt,” poet Marilyn Nelson Waniek shares the story of one family’s heritage and the role blankets play in telling the family history. Waniek uses the literary devices of shifts, symbolism and colors to show the complexities of the speaker’s heritage, and how the familial relationships in her life have shaped her.
What Dee failed to realize was that the quilts she wanted were in fact a part of their family’s heritage. Each quilt was made with with parts of clothing from different family members and sown together to show their importance in the family and also for remembrance of who they all
Waniek describes the quilt in great detail, describing the memories show it’s history, which tells the reader it has been around for awhile. When Waniek does start to describe the quilt’s physical appearance, she leads into talking about the owners of the quilt, noting what color they are. The color of the people goes much deeper than we think, in fact it holds both a connotation and denotation. Waniek uses those elements to further explain the complex meanings of the quilt.
Her own quilt satisfied her and gave her joy because of all the memories it held from her childhood just like Meema’s. The quilt described with this reminiscent tone enforces a feeling of comfort and serenity as it held past memories of family.
Culturally, the symbolism of a quilt is understood to be an heirloom piece that is closely guarded and highly prized. The ownership of the quilt and the generational lines it passes down is known before the piecing is begun. Stitching the pieces together is done by groups of women. The tiny bits of cloth each carry a memory, one from grandpa's shirt, one square from an aunt's Christmas dress, a piece from the flannel nightgown a mother wore as she pulled her sick child close to her bosom. The pieces are carefully and artistically pieced together into a collage of