Julia Tova Malakoff

Julia Tova Malakoff was fortunate to be able to explore the arts before the digital age. Growing up in Iowa, where it was winter for more than not, Julia used the indoor season to create. She wrote stories and poems, painted pictures, photographed her family and their life in a college town. Her hands were always moving and her hunger for the creative arts continued to grow. At the most unfortunate age of sixteen, her parents moved from the heart of the Midwest to the capitol of the south. At first, the city of Richmond seemed to be a conservative choice. But Julia quickly found the creative souls in high school and continued to seek them out when she attended Virginia Commonwealth University. Julia graduated with degrees in English/Writing and Advertising. After a few early career jobs in publishing, Julia ventured off to start her own artist agency called, Envoy Creative Consultants. She represented commercial artists and photographers, landing them local and national level accounts. Fast forward to marriage and four children, Julia returned to her creative roots and began writing and painting once more.

Artistic Philosophy: Mixed media art has allowed met to grow as an artist by giving me permission to play with styles using a variety of tools, colors and mediums. By experimenting, I have come to realize that there are not mistakes in this practice. There are only answers. And with this philosophy in mind, I created my class called, Make Your Mark, which encourages artists to explore the intriguing world of mixed media. My work is textured, combining hand painted papers with acrylics, inks, drawing tools, mediums and mark making tools. I enjoy the process of creating visual stories through the textures and layers. *Julia’s Make Your Mark class is offered at the Workhouse Center for the Arts in Lorton.

Samples of Julia's work are below. Please click on a thumbnail to see the full image.