PAT JOYELLE PROCESS & PRODUCT

PAT JOYELLE (Joyal) is a Duluth, MN-based textile and jewelry artist whose work has been exhibited in quilt shows and touring exhibitions across the country since 1965. Her quilt Acanthus (1984) was featured in the Goldstein’s 1988 exhibition, Geometric Quilts: Historical and Contemporary Design Solutions, another untitled quilt was part of last year’s exhibition Totally Radical: Designing the 1980s, and she kindly donated several quilts and garments to our collection in 2021. Joyelle has been a fixture of the Duluth art scene, where she co-founded the Park Point Art Fair and was a partner in Interim Design Studio, Spectrum Printworks, and the Blue Iris Gallery. She earned her BA and MA in studio art from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) and also taught at UMD and the Duluth Art Institute.

Joyelle has separated her jewelry and textile work by using the name Joyelle Design for her jewelry and Pat Joyal for her quilt and textile art. She designs each quilt

SARA WILCOX

to feature brilliant color combinations in patterns that reimagine traditional geometric quilts. She begins by piecing together quilt blocks and then assembling and reassembling the blocks until she finds the most pleasing arrangement. Joyelle has also made a number of her designs available as published quilt patterns. For both quilts and clothing, Joyelle often begins the process by batik dyeing to get just the right fabric for the new work. She also sold custom batik fabric, finished garments, and home goods at Interim Design Studio with co-owner Miriam Sommerness.

Joyelle also draws inspiration from international textile arts, as you can see in the dress pictured, which features her own batik fabric stitched up following a pattern from Folkwear Pattern Company based on traditional dresses worn by women in Gaza. The quilts and garments in the Goldstein collection demonstrate Joyelle’s artistry from process through product.