Clothing Sculpture: To Reshuffle the Sun – The hill-shaped lawn in Travers Park covered with second-hand clothing, arranged like a giant color wheel but with a dark center and a light outer edge. 100 feet wide.

Derick Melander, Textile Artist

I create textile art that explores the intersection between global consumerism and the intimate relationship we have with what we wear. About my work

Derick is a New York Foundation for the Arts grant recipient for fibre art in the public realm, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025.

Upcoming

September 5th, 2026
This is Where I Leave You – Solo Show at 
Hall Space, 550 State Route 55, Eldred, NY

October, 2026
A Collective Thread – Collaborative exhibition with nursing home residents, funded by New York Foundation of the Arts and Flushing Town Hall

Podcasts: Let it Out  |  The Listen

Artist Talk, Roscoe Collective

It was a full house for The Roscoe Collective’s new conversation series exploring the arts, humanities, and sciences.

After sharing a presentation on my work as a textile artist, Teresa Tulipano and I discussed the complexity of fast fashion, textile waste and the often-unconscious daily ritual of getting dressed.

See the project I referenced from 2009 with the NYC Department of Sanitation to raise awareness about textile waste.

Making textile art and large-scale clothing sculptures for over 25 years, I’ve come across countless hand-sewn repairs, threadbare knees, and collars inscribed with names. These traces of life have led me to think of my works as collective portraits. As the sculptures grow and layers of second-hand clothing accumulate, the individual garments compress into a single mass. This process explores the complicated space between the individual and society — a space that is continually broken and re-constituted. More about my clothing sculptures