March 2023 3-D Featured Artist Deborah Zwetsch

Deborah Zwetsch says her fine art paintings are her scarves. Each is an original, one-of-a kind, hand painted and personally sewn. “I stretch silk on a frame, paint it with thickened dye, heat activate the dye, wash the thickener out and sew it into scarves. The ‘hand’ of the silk remains because the dye goes into the molecule of the silk,” she said.

At the age of 19, she traveled to India for a semester through her college. One of the most profound impacts it had on her were the textiles. She felt the silk colors were alive and vibrant as women walked the streets in their saris. 

After college, Deborah attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and won a scholarship to travel through Europe to study art. She lived in Florence for a month absorbing the art that filled the streets, churches and museums there.

“I created Zwear Scarves in the mid-nineties, inspired by working in an art to wear store in Philadelphia,” she said “I broadened my territory throughout the east coast, and then started exhibiting in Florida during the winter.

Deborah moved to Pine Island in 2006 and now travels north to do shows in the summer. She also has wholesale shows in New York, Las Vegas and Baltimore. Her scarves have been displayed in the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery, as well as many museum gift shops and boutiques throughout the country.