Circular Abstractions: Bull's Eye Quilts

Concieved as improvisations on the Bull’s Eye Pattern–concentric rings set in a grid of four quadrants–the 51 quilts in this exhibition were created by artists from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. Challenged by curator and renowned quilt artist Nancy Crow, 41 quiltmakers transfromed the iconic quilt symbol into new individually expressive quilt desgins. 

The result is a body of images that deconstruct and re-assemble the bull’s eye, with circles that vary from rigidly geometric to wildly organic. In some, circles break their boundaries, shift in scale, dominate the entire plane, but each piece conveys a distinct voice as it celebrates visual experimentation into the myriad possibilities in color and shape. The viewer is invited to evaluate the success of each artist in transforming the simple Bull’s Eye into something more.

Guest curator Nancy Crow assembled these phenomenal examples of contemporary quilting in partnership with Muskegon Museum of Art, where the exhibition premiered last year. This exhibition is organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art with Curator Nancy Crow, and is sponsored in part by Bayer Crop Science.