Deb Zwetsch making art accessible and affordable
Deb Zwetsch has had a relationship with art that began early on, as she describes her father as an avocational artist who had a studio in the house while she was growing up. She began attending art classes herself at only 7 years old.
“I learned how to oil-paint and make wood blocks. I was always drawing and writing,” Zwetsch said.
Although she never cared for high school art classes, she said once she got to college she was able to really excel, eventually earning a master’s level teaching certificate in art therapy, where she wrote her own program. Zwetsch was able to explore another artistic medium when she went to India for a three-month semester and co-wrote a children’s book embracing cultural diversity.
At 28, she said she decided to go to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where she describes the learning style as “old school.”
“It’s the oldest art school in the country and it’s fashioned around the European style, where you learn from the master painter. You have two years of learning all the basics — everything from sculpture to welding to drawing everything from Greek casts, to etching, lithography, painting and life drawing from models. The first two years you compete for a studio, and then you have your own private studio, then you show in the actual museum. I had two of those shows — I won a studio both years,” Zwetsch said.
Zwetsch won a scholarship for three months all-expenses-paid travel to Europe, along with nine other classmates. At the end of the three-month trip, she found herself renting a place in Florence, Italy. Reminded daily of the Renaissance period, Zwetsch describes the neighborhood as amazing. She describes a museum she frequented there, created by Michael Angelo’s cousin.
“There was a sculpture in there that Michael Angelo did of the Christ — just the torso — it’s 6 inches long, but it looks monumental. I’ll never forget walking into that museum and seeing that sculpture — it just blew my mind,” Zwetsch said.
After art school, she found herself back in Philadelphia working at a place downtown called Turtle Dove.
“I was working in the shop and someone sent in hand-painted silk scarves. I looked at them and said, I can do a better job,” Zwetsch said.
It was then that she began researching how to perfect painting on silks. After various shows, museum showings and boutique debuts around the country, Zwetsch said it felt as though someone hit a switch and the lights went off, economically, in 2008. After making an excellent living as an artist, she found that she needed to find a different job. Making her way back to the passion that ignites her, Zwetsch gained much attention, while working on North Captiva, which eventually led to her Zwear line.
“I’m proud that, for the most part in my life, I’ve made a living as an artist. I love the idea that people can afford my work. They can wear my painting or hang it up. I feel like art should be accessible to everybody,” Zwetsch said.