‘Born creative’: VCU alum opens pandemic-inspired collection

Natalie Barr, Contributing Writer 

What began as a creative outlet during the pandemic turned into bright colors, powerful messages and treasures from the past and emerged into Julia Malakoff’s Paper Jewels collection. 

Paper Jewels is a series of three different shows created between 2020 and 2022 on display at the Weinstein Jewish Community Center, according to Malakoff. Peace & Love contains a series of collages of experiences from the pandemic; Good Juju reflects Malakoff’s loss of taste and smell due to COVID-19, and Paper Jewels illustrates the transition into post pandemic life full of brightness and light, Malakoff said. 

The materials used in the collection come from Malakoff’s month-long stay at her parents house during the pandemic, she said. Malakoff collected old books and memories from the basement and created collages to stay busy and create art. 

“A lot of the collages have a lot of stories behind it,” Malakoff said. “I think it’s my most favorite collection. I’m really proud of it.” 

Malakoff, a mixed media artist, was “born creative,” but never saw herself as an artist, she said. She graduated from VCU’s English and mass communication creative advertising schools. 

“I absolutely loved that about VCU, so many of my friends were of different ethnicities and I was able to have those different experiences at VCU along with creative aspects,” Malakoff said. 

She used her first passion of writing as a form of expression and a comfort zone, she said. Malakoff thought she would study creative writing in college which influenced her to attend VCU, she said. 

“I was always writing, and in creative writing courses, I thought I was going to be a writer one day,” Malakoff said. 

Malakoff worked at local advertising agencies and started her own art agency post-graduation before she transitioned to art full time in 2014, she said. 

“The way I actually got into making my own art is when I got married and started a family and have four kids, it was very difficult to have that 24-hour type of job,” Malakoff said. 

Malakoff missed art and decided to take classes again after she raised her children, she said. 

“Mixed media art is combining the way that I see it. It’s kind of like combining all of these different creative arts together,” Malakoff said. 

Malakoff has been teaching mixed media art to teenagers and adults for four years now and believes anyone can be creative and learn art, she said.

“That’s something that we can continue to do as adults. It’s therapeutic. It feels good,” Malakoff said.

Malakoff has been working on a mural for a hospital in Woodbridge for over a year, and she hopes to combine her love of art and writing to create a picture book in the future, she said. 

Alexander Bostic, associate professor in the art department at Mississippi State University, worked in the VCUarts department as a communications arts professor from 1990 to 2010, according to Bostic. Malakoff was curious and would seek out people to help her succeed with her career, Bostic said.

“You need to have that kind of motivation and self drive to get things that you want and to get to where you want to go. Basically, that’s what I did,” Bostic said.

Bostic has seen Malakoff’s artwork before, but did not know she used her time in the pandemic to create Paper Jewels until the “fantastic artwork” came out, he said. 

“Malakoff just says ‘this is what I want to do,’ and she winds up doing it versus ‘Oh, I need to bounce ideas off my friends, or I need to wait for Professor Bostic.’ She went off her own steam and inspiration,” Bostic said.  

Student artists should take every opportunity available even if they fail and figure out the best way to reach their audience to get their artwork seen, Bostic said.

“But the whole trick is getting your work out there and getting people to see it,” Bostic said.

Leslie McGuigan, director of cultural arts and community engagement at Weinstein JCC has worked at the center for over 10 years, she said. Over this time, she has seen the center expand its cultural arts program to include more opportunities to showcase Jewish culture, she said. 

“I’m fortunate to be in a position where I’m creating these opportunities,” McGuigan said. “When people tell me directly how much they enjoyed something or a painting that spoke to them, it brings me joy to see that people are appreciating it and that it’s enhancing their lives.”

McGuigan looks for artists several months in advance to showcase at JCC’s art gallery, Sara D. November Gallery, she said. Community members from the center approached McGuigan about Malakoff and suggested the artist be featured, McGuigan said.

“We were looking for Jewish artists that would like to show their work, through my committee and through people that I knew within the community,” McGuigan said. “I thought she would be a good fit for the gallery.”

McGuigan hopes people who visit the Paper Jewels collection at the gallery will be inspired and feel happy from the bright colors used in Malakoff’s collection, she said. 

“If people look at that [Paper Jewels], they might see there’s joy in things that don’t always seem joyful, but if you look hard enough there’s a silver lining,” McGuigan said. 

Paper Jewels collection will be on display at the Sara D. November Gallery at Weinstein JCC located at 5403 Monument Ave, from now – Dec. 30.