About
Rebecca Devaney is a textile artist, researcher, and facilitator with a BA in Art and Design Education (2006) and an MFA in Textile Art and Artefact (2015) from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. She received the prestigious Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Trust Award (2015), to research hand embroidery in Mexico and the resulting exhibition, Bordados, a collection of photographs, interviews, and textiles, has been presented internationally. Rebecca has completed artist residencies in India, the United Arab Emirates and France.
In 2018, following her graduation from École Lesage, Paris, Rebecca worked as a professional haute couture embroiderer for Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Dior, Valentino, Givenchy, and Louis Vuitton. Her research into the origins, history and heritage of haute couture embroidery was selected for the ICOM Costume conference The Making of Luxury at Versailles (2020), published in the Embellishment exhibition catalogue at the Hasselt Museum of Fashion, Belgium, and REBE: Broderies Haute Couture by Nadia Albertini. She has written for Selvedge Magazine, A Stitcher’s Journal and The Makers Atelier.
Rebecca established Textile Tours of Paris in 2019 to share her love of the rich heritage of textiles woven through the fabric of Paris.
Education
Professional Training in Haute Couture Embroidery, École Lesage, France, 2018
MFA Textile Art and Artefact, National College of Art and Design, Ireland, 2015
BA Art and Design Education, National College of Art and Design, Ireland, 2006
Research
Bordados: A Collection of Embroidered Textiles from Mexico (Exhibition), Permanent Collection of the Mexican Consul to France, Paris, 2019
Bordados: An Exhibition of Embroidered Textiles from Mexico (Exhibition), The Mexican Embassy to France (Paris, September - December 2018), Paris Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and Sharjah University College of Fine Arts and Design (2017, UAE) and the The Mexican Embassy in Ireland (2016, Dublin)
Awards
Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Trust Award, Ireland, 2015
Presentations
Developing a Portfolio Career as a Textile Artist, Researcher and Facilitator (Presentation and Demonstration of Haute Couture Embroidery Techniques), National College of Art and Design, Ireland, and Belfast College of Art, Northern Ireland, 2019
Thread Talk: Haute Couture Embroidery (Presentation), Cork Textiles Network, Ireland, 2019
École Lesage and Contemporary Haute Couture Embroidery (Presentation), Fashion Design Department, Griffith College, Ireland, 2019
The Origins, History and Contemporary Practice of Haute Couture Embroidery (Presentation), MA Design History Department, National College of Art and Design, Ireland, 2019
Bordados: A Collection of Embroidered Textiles from Mexico (Presentation), Research Strategies Symposium V, Textile Society UK, Wellcome Collection, London, 2019
L’Art de la Broderie au Mexique (Presentation), Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, Mexican Embassy to France, Paris, 2018
Bordados: An Exhibition of Embroidered Textiles from Mexico (Presentation), Anthropology of Textiles seminar, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, 2018
Telling Tales: Researching Costume at the Clothworkers Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion (Presentation), L’Institut Français de la Mode, Paris, 2018
Bordados: An Exhibition of Embroidered Textiles from Mexico (Presentation), International Committee for Museums and Collections of Costume (ICOM) annual conference, The Narrative Power of Clothes, London College of Fashion, 2017
A Response to Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (Presentation), WB Yeats: A Life and Death Less Ordinary, Kildare Reader’s Festival, Riverbank Arts Centre, Ireland, 2015
Embroidery as a Fine Art Practice (Presentation), El Bordado Como Arte conference, Institute of Fine Arts, University of Xalapa, Mexico, 2015
Publications
Daily Life in the Embroidery Studio/La Vie Quotidien de l’Atelier (Chapter), REBE: Broderies Haute Couture, Nadia Albertini, Gourcuff Gradenigo, France (due for publication in 2020)
The Work of Fairies, excerpt From an Empress to a Marquise: The Origins of Haute Couture Embroidery (Featured Article), Mode Muze Blog, Europe, 2019
From an Empress to a Marquise: The Origins of Haute Couture Embroidery (Chapter), Embellishment, Exhibition Catalogue, Modemuseum Hasselt, Belgium, 2019
Ultramod: The Oldest Haberdashery in Paris (Article), Selvedge Magazine, Issue 91: Luxe, London, November/December, 2019
Haute Couture Embroidery at École Lesage (Article), Textile Society, Newsletter No. 70, UK, November 2019
Oh Oaxaca (Article), Selvedge Magazine, Issue 83: Cotton, London, July/August 2018
A Stitch in Time: Embroidered Textiles from Mexico (Research Paper), Cultura de moda en América Latina issue of the peer-reviewed journal Dobras: Revista de la Asociación Brasileña de Estudios e Investigaciones en Moda, Brazil, 2018
B is for Bordados (Article), Dressing the New World: The Trade and the Culture of Clothing in the New Spanish Colonies 1600 - 1800, ed. Corinne Thépault, Denmark, 2018
Les Petites Mains à Paris: A Journal Describing My Time Studying At École Lesage And A Few Textile Adventures Along The Way In Paris, France..., Blog
Practice
The Tears of Aphrodite, International Women’s Rights Day 2019, Textile Art Installation, France, 2019
Drawing on Nature’s Abundance, Green Sakthi, Artist in Residence, India, 2017
The Recycled Jellyfish Swarm, Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2017, Artist in Residence, United Arab Emirates, 2017
A Response to Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven, Kildare Readers Festival, Riverbank Arts Centre, Ireland (Solo Exhibition), Culture Night, Maynooth Libraries, Ireland (Solo Exhibition), Conversations, Boyle Arts Festival, Ireland (Group Exhibition), National College of Art and Design, Ireland (Postgraduate Exhibition), 2015
A Response to the Shadow Dolls, International Women’s Day Celebration, Poetry Ireland, Ireland (Solo Exhibition), 2007, Domestic Violence, Eavan Boland, 2006, Carcanet Press (Book Cover Art), The Rathgar Bookshop, Ireland (Solo Exhibition and reading with Eavan Boland), National College of Art and Design, Ireland (Graduate Exhibition), 2006
Facilitation
Art Education Consultant and Workshop Facilitator, Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation, United Arab Emirates, 2017
Art Teacher, Canadian International School, United Arab Emirates, 2016 - 2017
Art Education Consultant, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ireland 2009 - 2015
Lecturer in Fashion and Costume History and Design, Dublin Institute of Design, Ireland, 2012 - 2015
Art Teacher and Head of the Art Department, St. Joseph of Cluny and Loreto Crumlin, Ireland, 2009 - 2015
Co-Director and Workshop Facilitator, Textile Workshop Dublin, Ireland, 2010 - 2013
Press
The Irish Woman who Embroidered Dresses for Kate Moss and Catherine Deneuve, Deirdre Mc Quillan, The Irish Times, November, 2019
Rebecca Devaney: An Irish Artist Inspired by Poetry and Femininity, Claire de Pourtales, Le Temps de Broder, September, 2019
Rebecca Devaney in Paris, My Glossy Weekend, The Gloss Magazine, Ireland, June 2018