The Beautiful Pie Art of Devoney Scarfe

By Spooky on May 25th, 2024 Category: Art

Devoney Scarfe is a talented food artist from Auckland, Australia, whose portfolio of edible masterpieces includes celebrity and animal portraits, whimsical scenes, and hilarious quotes.

A part-time creative director at her husband’s advertising agency, Devoney Scarfe started tinkering with food art as a hobby, while also doing her best as a full-time mom. Her early work wasn’t the most impressive, but as she kept practicing, experimenting, and coming up with new techniques and designs, her artistic pies drastically improved. One of her breakthrough moments as a food artist was a tribute to Britain’s Queen Elisabeth, in 2022, which took several days to complete. It turned out so well that photos of the too-cool-to-eat pie went viral online, earning Devoney thousands of social media followers.

“The other day I was like, ‘Oh my God … I know how to do it’ and then I heard that the Queen had died, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna do the Queen!” Devoney told Stuff Magazine about her decision to make a monarch-themed pie. “I’ve worked out a few tricks … and I feel pleased with this finally.”

Devoney Scarfe can spend up to a week making just one of her impressive pies. The dough is easy enough, but then it has to rest in the fridge for at least 24 hours, after which comes the sculpting, the painting, the baking, and the painting. Not to mention that one mistake can ruin days of hard work.

Over the years, the Australian food artist had to overcome many technical difficulties in order to make her dream pies a reality, such as finding ways of preventing her dough designs from collapsing into the pie filling, or keeping the dough from cracking when baked. It took her about a year of trial and error, and even though there is always something new to be learned, she is satisfied with her level of work.

“I’m really interested in that grey area where art meets food. I find that quite fascinating,” Devoney said.

In case you’re wondering what happens to these beautiful treats once the talented artist is done photographing and filming them for her social media followers, the answer is simple – they get gobbled up by her two sons.

“I have two teenage boys who are forever hungry, you just have to shovel food into them,” Scarfe laughingly said.

For more amazing pie art, check out the creations of Liz Joy-Murray, the artistic pies of Helen Nugent, and the insanely detailed pie portraits of Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin.