I do think that art is communication, and I do think that if you don't share the work,

it makes it a lot harder to keep it going because you're in kind of a closed loop with yourself. Hi. Hi. Hi, this is Let It Out.

I'm Katie Delabout.

This week I spoke to artist Derek Mlander.

He is a sculptor who works with secondhand clothing to create clothing sculptures that explore the intersection

between global consumerism and the intimate relationship we all have with what we wear.

I loved this conversation. I love Derek. We share a mutual, very close person to each of us, my friend Sasha, who if you've listened to

this podcast for any length of time, I bring her up often, or if you're my friend in person.

We get into how we met at the beginning of this.

So I'll just tell you that this conversation covers everything from

record club and music and nostalgia to clothing and textiles and sharing clothing,

consumerism, leaving traces, making art, friendship, relationships in general, family,

connections, socializing, the power of the neighborhood.

And it's a long one.

So we're going to get to it as soon as possible.

However, although this episode is on the longer side, I want to start us off by reading something to set the tone. Derek mentions art school,

and there's a point in this conversation where he talks about starting his career as an artist

and having to unlearn to find his own process in creating art. And at the time,

he was working with his dreams, which is a really interesting part of the conversation that we'll

get to. But I mentioned these art rules from Sister Karina Kent. And I'd like to read them now. So settle in. This is a long

episode. It's going to be a long intro. And perhaps, you know, you listen in a couple

sittings or walkings or drivings or laundry foldings or dishwashings, however you're listening to this. So I'm going to make a

...