Devore

Dionne Swift carves the wildness of windswept landscapes into fabric, creating ploughed furrows of subtle and surprising tones – Lee Corner/Portfolio

In the open-ness and tranquillity of the landscape, I find calm and inspiration. The open aspect is fresh and up lifting. The immense scale of the moors and valleys in Yorkshire constantly overwhelm me with their magnificence. I am intrigued by the intimacy of the sky and land with their ever-changing roles of solidity and translucency.
I use devoré processes on velvet to explore the changing structural qualities in the landscape.
I dye and hand paint the cloth, I over paint and employ dye reduction techniques to develop visual layers and the notion of depth
I aim to allow the processes selected to add to the development of the work. The techniques used are as important as the imagery depicted.
The devoré process was developed on C17th France as a means of creating a poor man’s lace. Devoré – to devour – to eat away/to burn out. The fabric I use is a combination of silk and viscose, the devoré process removes the viscose pile.