Judy Gelzinis Donovan is a textile artist, beader and teacher. Born in Philadelphia but raised on the tiny island of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, she began teaching at the tender age of 13 when she opened her own Polynesian dance studio in her home and performed with both Hawaiian and Tahitian dance troupes. Her fascination with beads and textiles stemmed from having to make traditional polynesian costumes for herself and students, using vibrantly colored tropical fabrics, raffia, cowrie shells and, of course, beads.
While living in the South Pacific, she learned Hawaiian quilting, which brought her into the world of quilting and wearable art. She studied fabric and fiber dyeing and surface design to have more control over her materials and ended up teaching and lecturing on these topics for over 15 years. From there she became Book Review Editor for the National Quilting Association’s publication Quilting Quarterly. After 3 years as book review Editor, she wrote a feature column on Wearable Art for the same publication for an additional two years.
Her work, primarily garments and woven beadwork has been shown nationally and internationally in juried shows, galleries, four times in the invitation-only Fairfield Fashion show and in the 2002 and 2006 Bernina Fashion show. Locally, her work was shown at the Wayne Art Center in the Fiber Art 200 show with artists Cindy Friedman, Fradele Feld, Nancy Herman, Lonni Rossi, Deborah Schwartzman and Judy Smith-Kressley.
Her garments, quilts and beadwork have appeared in many publications including Quilting Quarterly, Sew News, Fiberarts, Art Quilt Magazine and Fairfield Processing Corporation’s ART TO WEAR book. Most recently her beadwork has been featured in the book FASHION AND IMAGINATION and in Interweave Press’ BEAD CROCHET by Bethany Barry (April 2004. Three of her jewelry designs will appear in issues of Step-by-Step beads in 2006.
Judy lives in an historic 200-year-old townhouse in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia with her husband and two Siamese cats. She has three grown sons, one of them is a Mummer with the Woodland String Band (the passion for beads has been passed on!) She currently teaches textile and jewelry courses at the Delaware College of Art and Design in Wilmington DE and is a manager of Wayne’s award-winning bead shop Ubead2, where she also teaches and designs jewelry. Judy has been active in the South Jersey Bead Society in her “position for life” as Program Chair. She also teaches knitting and bead embroidery at shops in Philadelphia and suburban NJ.
