Bravo Bulcão

Although this minimalist quilt consists of nothing but one repeating block—a blue arc set into a gray square— variations in placement create a design that’s whimsical and captivating. The quilt takes its name from Athos Bulcão (1918–2008), a Brazilian artist best known for his large-scale geometric tile installations in Brasilia’s civic buildings, hospitals, transit hubs, churches, schools, and parks. His quirky installation process gave his artwork a playful quality—he instructed workers to position individual tiles in any way they wanted! My homage respects both hallmarks of his work: the repeating geometric components, and the random placement.