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As a Fine Arts graduate I have developed my career as an artist and pattern designer. I have concurrently maintained an active agenda as a mentor, giving lectures and workshops on fabric printing and fine arts in specialized art and design centres.
My education and subsequent professional life have had a strong basis in painting. The more I developed my technique the more I started to use all-over repetition of motives, which led me to develop an interest in design and textile printing. Different techniques, such as silk-screen printing and, later, digital printing, allowed me automatize the creative process and to apply my designs to textile products as well as to an array of different materials.

My visual resources are based on the hallucinations and deceptions produced by optical effects and camouflage, graphics and statistical schemes, digital interfaces and scientific images, on all of these types of contemporary objects that hardy seem figurative at all when represented graphically. I look for all kinds of errors, misunderstandings and deficiencies of the image that arise from either its production process or social distribution, in order to create a library of anomalies. My work is rooted in an ambiguous reality, located between real and abstract forms, between the accuracy of the data and the errors of its transmission. It deals with the status of the image, its circulation, consumption and waste in the present day´s society.

What attracted me to pattern design in the first place is the combination of the precision that it requires with the creative freedom and artistic potential of this discipline, which allows me to choose motives, materials and colour palette in the same way that painting does.

My designs are aloof to the market driven tendencies, on the contrary they are unique and timeless and guided by my own artistic curiosity and intuition. I adapt to the needs of my clients for commissions of collaborative projects, and I strive to make the most significant contribution using my experience and knowledge.
From my studio in Bilbao I have designed and produced textile accessories for a number of different clients, particularly for museum shops, such as those at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Artium in Vitoria and the Museo Cristóbal Balenciaga in Getaria.
I use the most advanced digital techniques as well as silk screen printing and I exclusively work with premium quality natural fabrics such as silk, wool and cotton.



CV

In 2002 the company Malús Arbide was founded, it specializes in graphic textile and surface design, all-over and positional print design and their application to textile and other types of materials. It is based in Bilbao, Spain.

Malús Arbide develops and produces textile accessories using her own patterns and works with clients to create custom-made designs, supervising the entire process from the inception of the idea to the final delivery of finished products.


Participation in specialized international fairs:
Indigo, Salon International du Dessin et de la Création Textile, Paris, September 2004.
Tissu Premier, Lille, January 2006.
Competitive funding and Awards:

SELECTED´18 European Inspiration. Creative and visual projects award. 2018.

Sustatu Innovative Project Award for the project ‘Digital Cloth: Digital Textile Design and Printing’ obtained from the Department of Economic Development of the Council of Bizkaia, 2002.
Artistic creation grant from the Council of Gipuzkoa to develop the project entitled ‘The Representation of Clothing: a Repertoire of Graphic Resources for Fashion Design”, 1989/90.


Workshops given by Malús Arbide

  • Digital pattern design and printing. This theoretical-practical activity proposes an approach to pattern design. Cristóbal Balenciaga Museoa. -
  • Pattern and textile design. Kutxa Kultur Moda. San Sebastián, abril de 2018.
  • Patterns with Inkscape and digital fabrication. Tabakalera, San Sebastián. September 2017.
  • Pattern Design III. Workshop with Malús Arbide. Bilbaoarte, June 2016.
  • Creating digital prints, ESDEMGA, Universidade de Vigo, campus de Pontevedra. October 2015.
  • Painting and textiles. Textile illustration and printing. Taller Abierto, Pontevedra. February 2015.
  • Painting and textiles. Textile illustration and printing. Bilbaoarte. October 2014.
  • Digital textile printing. Cistóbal Balenciaga Museoa. Getaria 2013.
  • Pattern Design II. Workshop in applied digital printing for garment-manufacture. Bilbaoarte. October 2011.
  • Pattern Design. Bilbaoarte. June 2011.
  • Digital textile printing. AEG Ikastetxea, San Sebastián, 2007 y 2008.
  • Digital textile printing. Ciudadela Pamplona. August 2007.
  • Master in Textile and Surface Design, IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), Madrid, 2007.
  • Textile design, IED (Istituto Europeo di Design), Madrid, 2005/06.

Solo Exhibitions:

2021 Index. La Taller Galery. Bilbao. Basque Country.

2016 Luca. Narata, Bilbao.

2015: La Encartada Moda. Showroom.

2012 AntiLiburudenda. Bilbao.

2008 Superficies. Proyecto La Sonrisa de la Ballesta, Madrid.

2007 Dentro Fuera Extraño. Horno Ciudadela Pamplona.

1998 Representaciones artísticas J.A. Lastra. Bilbao.

1995 Sala BBK. Bilbao.

1995 Altxerri Galería. San Sebastián.

1993 Kultur Etxea. Basauri.


Group Exhibitions:

2021 Soplo Arnasketa Saiakerak. Euskal Museoa. Museo Vasco. Bilbao.

2018. Bi Dos Two. Azkuna Zentroa. Bilbao.

2016/17 Reflexión / Inflexión: Presencia de las mujeres en el Museo de Navarra. Pamplona.

2015/16 El Contrato. Azkuna Zentroa, Bilbao. Octubre 2014/enero 2015.

2013 Tesoro Público. Artium. Vitoria.

2006 Becarios Juan de Otaola y Pérez de Saracho. Casa Torre Ariz. Basauri, Bilbao.

2004 Tissu Premier. Lille. France.

2003 Indigo. Paris.

2001 ARCO Madrid, stand del Museo de Bellas Artes de Álava.

2001 Pornografía Conceptual, Kultur Etxea, Gallarta. Vizcaya.

2001 Presente remoto, Sala Amárica. Vitoria.

1999 Okupgraf. Palacio Jauregia.Tolosa.

1999 Ertibil 99. Itinerante, Bizkaia.

1997 X Certamen Nacional de Artes Plásticas ADUANA 97. Cádiz.

1996 El Puñalito y un puñao. Bilbao.

1995 Certamen de Plástica Contemporánea Vitoria Arte Gasteiz. Vitoria.

1995 III Certamen de pintura La General. Granada.

1995 Acepciones. Trayecto Galería. Vitoria.

1995 Con Papel. Galería Almirante. Madrid.

1995 12 Iluminaciones Contemporáneas. Antigua Iglesia de San Vicente de Potes Valle de Liébana, Cantabria.

1994 La caja de Pandora. Kultur Etxea, Basauri.

1994 Con 5000 pesetas. Sala de exposiciones edificio La Bolsa. Bilbao.

1993 El Recreo. Sala BBK, Bilbao y Sala Amárica, Vitoria.

1993 IV Bienal de Pintura Ciudad de Pamplona. Pamplona.

1993 Ertibil 93. Itinerante, Bizkaia.

1993 Gure Artea, Bilbao, Vitoria, San Sebastián.

1993 Galería Vanguardia. Bilbao.

1992 Otros aires del paisaje. Yurre. Bizkaia.

1992 Ertíbil 92. Itinerante. Bizkaia.

1992 El Recreo. Escuelas de Sajazarra. La Rioja. Altxerri Galería. San Sebastián.

1992 Premios Ejército de Tierra 92, Madrid.

1992 Bienal 92. Almería.

1992 Exibition of the contemporary spanish womenpainters, Gallery Well Aoyama.Yokohama. Japón.

1991 Uztaro, Becas de creación artística, 1987-1990. Arteleku, San Sebastián.

1991 Ertibil 91 Itinerante. Vizcaya.

1991 Bizkaiko Artea. Bilbao.

1991 Festivales de Navarra. Pamplona.

1991 Premios de Pintura L’ Oreal. Madrid.

1991 Certamen de Pintura de Sestao. Bizkaia.

1991 Bienal de Pintura de Murcia. Murcia.

1991 Premios Ejército de Tierra 91, Madrid.


Grants and Awards:

2018 SELECTED´18 European Inspiration. Creative and visual projects award.

2002 Premio Sustatu, Diputación Foral de Vizcaya.

1999 Bolsa de trabajo Ertibil.

1998 Cartel ganador Carnavales Bilbao 98.

1993/94 Beca de creación artística, Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa.

1993/94 Beca Juan de Otaola y Pérez de Saracho. Basauri, Bizkaia.

1993 Adquisición de obra, Diputación Foral de Bizkaia.

1992 Bolsa de trabajo, Ertibil.

1991 Bolsa de trabajo Ertibil.

1991 Premio Festivales de Navarra. Gobierno de Navarra.

1989/90 Beca a la creación. Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa.


Collections:

Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao.

Diputación Foral de Navarra.

Diputación Foral de Bizkaia.

Fundación Año Jubilar Lebaniego. Potes, Cantabria.

Artium. Vitoria.

Ayuntamiento de Bilbao.

Bilbaoarte. Bilbao.

Gallery Well Aoyama. Yokohama.