ATHENS, Ohio — Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry of Port Townsend is among the 84 artists whose quilts are on display at Quilt National, The Best in Contemporary Quilts in Athens, Ohio.

The display opened in May at the The Sauber Gallery in the Dairy Barn Arts Center and will run through this coming Monday.

Fallert-Gentry’s piece is “Vine #2.”

Started as a doodle

“Vine #2 began with a doodle I drew many years ago and kept in my inspiration file,” Fallert-Gentry said.

“After playing with the original sketch, trying different shapes, orientations, and repeats, it evolved into a bio-morphic design that echoes the patterns we see in nature, but doesn’t represent any particular species.

“The fabrics include hand-dyed gradations, hand painted fabrics, and fabrics from the various collections I have designed for Benartex,” a fabric company based in New York City, she added.

“In the quilting I used dozens of different colors of thread. The negative spaces are quilted in vine patterns.”

The show celebrates 40 years of Quilt National since opening in 1979 as the first exhibition for The Dairy Barn Arts Center.

More than 84 artists

Quilt National ’19 features more than 84 artists representing 28 states and seven foreign countries.

After the show closes, it will be divided into three collections that will go on a national tour through 2021.

Fallert-Gentry’s quilt is now scheduled to be seen in St. Louis, Mo.; Abingdon, Va.; and San Jose, Calif.

The Quilt National ’19 jurors were Françoise Barnes, co-founder of Quilt National; Carolyn Ducey, curator of collections at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Judy Kirpich, Quilt National Award winning Artist.

“Over 700 quilts by 375 artists from 19 countries and 40 U.S. States were reviewed to select 84 of The Best of Contemporary Quilts in the world,” said Holly Ittel, director of Quilt National and Exhibitions at The Dairy Barn Arts Center.

‘Overjoyed’

“I am overjoyed by the collection; it is diverse in content and artistic intention that is intriguing to study.”

For more, see dairybarn.org/quilt-national/tour.