The McLean Textile Gallery is a 501(c)3
charitable organization and does not
take commission from the artists.

In her fabric art, Malka Kutnick is a sculptor and a painter using color in her fabrics as an expressive element. Each work displays her interest in the variety of shapes, lines, and textures. And I venture to say that fabric art appeals to Malka because she loves variety in texture. She exclusively uses donated fabrics that friends and family would have otherwise tossed into the public garbage heap – particularly lots of jeans – and this gives Malka quite a good sense of ecological satisfaction.

 

She folds the fabrics into complex and interesting patterns and stitches them in place on an industrial sewing machine, which her father wisely gave to her.

 

Her art is shown in galleries across the United States. To see more of Malka's impressive variety in fabric art, as well as her art in other media, visit to her website at www.malkakutnick.com.

 

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Curling

Soft sculpture

Repurposed denim

49”h x 26”w x 12”d

2021

 

Like so many of Malka's soft sculptures in cloth, Curling, at 49 inches tall, makes an imposing statement on a wall. She uses an industrial sewing machine to sculpt jean fabric into a seemingly endless series of folds, taking advantage of the decorative possibilities of the curling white line at the ends of the tightly folded and stitched denim. She then joins both extended curls, as if along a spine, ending it all in a massive denim curl.

 

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Sedimentary Orange

Soft sculpture

Mixed cloth

29”h x 36”w x 6”d

2021

 

In Sedimentary Orange we are presented with a large pile of jean and upholstery fabrics. Malka lets the color and weight of each fabric express itself. She stitches them into folds and selectively lets long delicate threads hang gracefully at the ends in contrast with the weight of the fabrics.

 

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Peeking Blue

Soft sculpture

Mixed cloth

36”h x 28”w x 6”d

2021

 

Each artistictly reworked and stitched section of jeans moves boldly together, yet openly along the wall. At 36 inches high, Peeking Blue takes its name from the patterned light blue cloth peering out of the second section of this fabric sculpture. As is typical of Malka's attitude toward her art, the yellow cloth emphasizes the accenting blue fabric in a multitude of different ways. It is a testament to the richness of her artistic imagination.