A Life in Color

A Life in Color, Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry shares full color prints of more than 200 of her award-winning art quilts, from her very first quilt in 1976 to her most recent work in 2025. Follow Caryl's 50-year creative journey from bed quilts in the 1970 through her life-time exploration of color and design in the quilt medium. This softcover edition has the same content as the deluxe hardcover edition.

A Life in Color, a retrospective exhibition at the National Quilt Museum, celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of making my first quilt. This catalog includes full-size photos of the works in the exhibition along with photos of other important pieces from the past fifty years that give context to the quilts on display. This exhibition is available to travel after October 2025. In this catalog pictures are presented without statements, with the exception of the introductory pages and a few comments about important transitions in technique.

When Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry began her very first quilt in 1975, she never imagined it would lead to a life-long career in the textile arts. Today, she is internationally recognized for her award-winning fine art quilts, best known for their organic, curved-seam designs, scintillating use of color, and illusions of light, depth, and motion. Her attention to detail has earned her a reputation for fine craftsmanship as well as stunning designs. Since 1983, Caryl's work has been exhibited extensively throughout North America, Europe, Japan, Brazil, and the Pacific Rim. She has had twenty-three solo exhibitions, including shows in Canada and Japan. Caryl has won Best of Show at the International Quilt Festival (2009), the American Quilters Society Show (1989, 1995, 2000), and more than a dozen other national and international competitions. In 1986, Caryl received the Masterpiece Quilt Award from the National Quilting Association. She has received Master Awards for both Contemporary Artistry (2002 & 2006) and Machine Artistry (1997) from the International Quilt Association, and machine workmanship awards from both the American Quilters Society (2004 & 2009) and the Quilting the Quilt national exhibition (2003). Special honors include: 100 Most Important Quilts of the Twentieth Century (2000), 30 Most Influential Quiltmakers in the World (2002), Bernina Leadership Award (2003), All American Quilter (2004) and International Quilt Festival Silver Star (lifetime achievement) Award (2006). Caryl's work can be found in public, museum, corporate, and private collections throughout the United States and in numerous foreign countries. Caryl has authored two previous books, plus numerous magazine articles, instructional brochures, and digital workshops. Her work has appeared in hundreds of national and international publications, including the covers of the 1987 and 1991 Quilt National Catalogs. For thirty years, Caryl traveled extensively, lecturing and conducting workshops throughout the United State, and in eleven foreign countries on five continents. She continues to share her knowledge through her website where many of her publications are available as free downloads. (bryerpatch.com/faq). Born in Elgin, Illinois, Caryl was a lifelong resident of the Chicago area until 2005, when she relocated to the historic LowerTown Arts District of Paducah, Kentucky. There she built a studio, gallery, and workshop center a short walk from the National Quilt Museum. Her studio/gallery was open from 2006-2014. Bob Fallert, Caryl's husband of thirty-four years, died in 2006 shortly after their move to Kentucky, and in 2013, Caryl married Dr. Ron Gentry in a private ceremony at the National Quilt Museum. In 2014, she sold her Paducah studio, retired from teaching and retail, and relocated to Port Townsend, Washington, where she continues to create new work in her latest studio overlooking Puget Sound and the snow-capped Cascades. Much more information about Caryl and her quilts is available on her website: bryerpatch.com.