Meeting with an Irish embroiderer, Parisian at heart, who explores our vision of Women.

Photos – © Rebecca Devaney – photos protected by copyright – thank you
Interview Claire de Pourtalès

Training
Rebecca Devaney is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin (Ireland), with a specialization in Textile Arts. After traveling and working as a teacher for 10 years, she returned to Dublin to complete her studies in Textile Arts, and finally to enroll at the Lesage School in Paris where she obtained the title of Haute Couture Embroiderer.

Themes
Rebecca is primarily interested in male-female roles in society, and in particular their implications for women, social ideals of beauty, and the construction of femininity – both internally and externally. She is inspired by literature, poetry and the history of costume that describe the female experience. She uses the evocative yet controversial effect of the dolls to explore and expand upon these themes.

The artist fell in love with fabrics and embroidery as an artistic tool the first time she was asked to create samples in college. The possibilities seemed endless to her: with just one small stitch she could explore and experiment with textures, scales, tones, colors, repetition, materials and backgrounds. A piece of fabric could be folded, gathered, creased, worn, used, rubbed off. To respond to her new passion, Rebecca learns traditional needlework, free machine embroidery, digital embroidery, textile manipulation, weaving, techniques of natural colors, screen printing, pad printing, and clothing construction. She combines all these techniques to sculpt, embellish and embroider her works.

She remains fascinated by the power of embroidery and how fabrics and clothing evoke memories and emotions. She is thus inspired by contemporary artists such as Lise Bjorn Linnert, Mr Finch, Yinka Shonibare or Zoe Buckman. Erica Wilson‘s books, Rozsika Parket and Sheila Paine teach her the history of embroidery, its techniques and the evolution of styles. Fashion drawings and paintings by Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, François Boucher, James Tissot, Henri Matisse and Gustave Klimt remain unlimited sources for her research in fashion, the creation of silhouettes and styles, the use of materials and colors. The Fashion Theater by Christian Bernard (1945) and the marvelous Haute Couture embroidery by Charles Frederick Worth and Christian Dior are the creations that led our artist to enroll at the Lesage School.

The dolls
Each series of dolls is inspired by a poem. After which comes historical, literary, artistic research. Rebecca also researches what were the fashionable trends and embroidery techniques of that time. She draws her sketches, then explores materials and colors, tries techniques and finally begins to create each doll and her dress. The framework is made up of wire or miniature mannequins that seamstresses usually have. The dresses are made following the patterns of the period, usually found from Janet Arnold.

A response to Shadow Dolls

This series was inspired by the poem Shadow Doll by Eavan Boland, a poem that resonates strongly with our artist. The poet reflects on the experience of a woman who must submit to what society expects of her, in her relationships as well as in her marriage. Can she fully realize herself, define her individual identity under these conditions? What are the repercussions, consequences and sacrifices that this entails? The series can thus be seen as a visual story of a metamorphosis aimed at liberating the woman as she moves away from beauty, elegance, complicated wedding dresses, to reveal the repressive crinolines that hide underneath. Little by little these restrictions disintegrate and the woman frees herself from all these oppressions. Little by little, a hippocampus emerges, a strange compromise in the establishment of gender roles. Rebecca incorporates hand and machine embroidery, manipulates fabrics, sculpts wire, paper, adds pantyhose and wax.
For each doll, Rebecca uses a garment from the women of her family: the mesh curtain of her great-grandmother, the baptismal garment of one of her grandmothers, her mother’s lace shawl and her aunt’s blouse.