Joyce B. Badanes

Wearable Art

 

Soon after I took early retirement from teaching in 1988, I was invited to join The Shenandoah Piecemakers, a newly forming group of quilters in the area. I thought I knew a little bit about quilting since I had been making quilts with  my elementary grade students and their parents for the last ten years or so. The Shenandoah Piecemakers first showed me that I knew nothing, then taught me a great deal. I took my first official class from Susie Williams at Belle Grove and have since studied with many of the  world’s most respected quilters; most recently Georgia Bonsteel,  Judy Martin and Jane Sassman.

 

I have worked with each of the quilt shows held in Berryville since 1988 and have been chairperson or publicity chair for many of them. I belong to three quilt guilds and subscribe to many topical magazines, including the newest - Art Quilt. My quilts have hung in Clarke County shows, Bon Matin Bakery,  Bowman Library, the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Shenandoah Valley  and Art at the Mill.

 

I have studied Tai Chi with the masters from China and with Pat Rice in Winhchester, and found it to be my source of balance, food for my mind, body and spirit, as well as inspiration for my Yin Yang Quilts  My Yin Yang quilts are owned by Pat Rice, Master Yang Jun, Jay Dunbar, Jose Johnson, and Nick Gracenin. Many of these quilts, sword bags, fan bags and custom quilts have been sold at Taste of China Celebrations in Winchester since 1995.

 

Quilting has become what I do because it makes me very happy by satisfying my artistic need to create and my need to keep busy.  My inspirations come from many sources; some of my favorite quilts have been inspired by greeting cards. Other sources are Native American artists, an Indian Pow Wow flyer, Japanese and Chinese watercolors, an antique book of posters, and an article about limericks in the Smithsonian Magazine. Most of my work now is non-traditional. I enjoy trying different techniques and designing my own quilts. Experiments in creating fabrics by dying, over dying and painting are my latest interests.