I am beyond thrilled to announce that I have been selected as one of two muralists for the Iowans Create Community Mural Program through the Iowa Arts Council! This is especially exciting for me to hear a year after receiving such incredible support from them with the Iowa Artist Fellowship.
From the IAC website: “The selected artist or artist team will work with the Iowa Arts Council and the selected community partner to envision, design, and create an original mural that activates a public space, welcomes visitors and showcases the authentic character of the community. The selected artist or artist team will be expected to take part in several meetings with the selected community as part of the design and development process.”
I will be working with the city of Waverly to produce a mural that reflects their community come this Spring and Summer. This mural will be on the larger end of public art projects I have produced through my career - and I am jazzed to get started next year
“Something Worn, Something Blue” was recently shown in Tuscaloosa, AL at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center.
Photo credits: Jerry Siegel for the Susan Nomberg McCollough Fine Arts Initiative Alumni Show.
Feature on "Artists on Couches"
I was recently featured on Artists on Couches. The link is here.
“What inspires you?
“I’m inspired by the feminine adornments that surround me as I move through the world: elaborate mall storefront displays, the endless scroll of jewelry online, aisles of synthetic costume fabric in JoAnn (RIP), whimsical color names that are stickered on nail polish bottles and lipstick tubes, vintage clip-on earrings, fast fashion, and high fashion alike.
The materials I pair with ceramics are ones I use and love in my everyday life.
Beauty-supply finds like fuzzy pom-pom hair ties, glistening rhinestones, shiny nail polish, and holographic fabrics populate my work.
The process feels like picking out an outfit each morning…a play of texture, shine, and self-presentation that mimics my daily routine of getting ready.
My practice centers on crafting these oversized, jewelry-like objects that serve as vignettes of women’s experiences, especially regarding current politics relating to bodily autonomy.
Grounded in ceramics but adorned with fashion and beauty materials, these pieces are flirtatious, attention-seeking, and deceptively superficial.
They toy with their own material excess and potential, speaking to politics in their own voice: excessive, unabashedly hyper-feminine, and (most importantly), pink.” — Ali Hval, Iowa City, Iowa @alihval
@artistsoncouches
Photo credit: @thalassaraasch”
Inclusion in Dinah Washington Cultural Art Center Show
These heels have been getting quite a bit of attention the past few years. I’m happy to say they are included in a show in Tuscaloosa, AL at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center featuring works from graduates of the University of Alabama’s art program.
Ali Hval: Exploring Femininity Through Ceramics, Textiles, and Installation Art
I recently received a write-up in Create! Magazine. You can find the full article here.
“What is your relationship to your medium? What draws you to it?
Ceramics strike a balance between heft and delicacy; the material itself is easily shattered, but strong enough to hold form. This feels symbolic and human, bringing another dimension to my sculptural ceramic works. The materials I combine with ceramics are ones I use and love in my everyday life. The work is proliferated with beauty supplies materials like fuzzy pom-pom hair ties, glistening rhinestones, shiny nail polish, and shimmering fabrics. My work feels like picking out an outfit in the morning, a play of textures and shine, and feels close to my usual morning routine in this regard.”
"Rainbow in Limbo" at Maharishi University
“Rainbow in Limbo” is on view now through October 17 at the Wege Center for the Arts at Maharishi University in Fairfield. Thank you to everyone who made it to the opening, and a big shoutout to @genevradaley and @metrican for making this happen! 💕✨
Inclusion in Vanderbilt University's "Celebrating American Craft 2025" Show
“Stroke of Midnight” is currently at Vanderbilt University’s Sarratt Gallery @sarrattartstudiosandgallery for “Celebrating American Craft 2025,” open from September 8 through October 31.
Faculty Research Presentations - University of Iowa
I’m excited to be talking about what I’ve been doing the past few months under the Iowa Artist Fellowship this Friday from 12:30 to 1:30pm in E125 Visual Arts Building. The lovely Rachel Cox will also be presenting during this semester’s Faculty Research Presentations. Hope to see you there! ✨🪩
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Spring 2025 Faculty Research Presentations:
Ali Hval and Rachel Cox
Friday, April 11, 12:30-1:30pm, E125 VAB
Ali Hval is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Painting and Drawing. She has received grants from the lowa Arts Council as well as the Center of Craft, Creativity, and Design. Ali’s work involves creating ceramic and fabric sculptures that echo pieces of oversized jewelry, shoes, and other fashion items. As a 2024-25 lowa Artist Fellow, Ali has begun expanding this visual language by merging her sculptural jewelry forms with everyday domestic objects. With fellowship support, she is also developing wearable garments that allow performers to activate these pieces, engaging with immersive, mural-painted environments that further blur the boundaries between body, object, and space.
Rachel Cox is an artist, educator, and feminist with a deep commitment to crafting image-based works of art which challenge cultural and social conventions pertaining to reproduction and care. Cox’s current project, Portrait of a Woman, has been recognized with numerous awards including an lowa Arts Project Grant, a Puffin Foundation Grant, as well as the 2024 Visionary Project Award through Film Photo & Kodak, and was selected for the 2025 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, hosted and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC. Cox’s current research considers the implications of sharing works of art depicting nude femme bodies; a photographic tradition that is wrought with misogyny and objectification. In her presentation she will explain the significance of materials and craft as valuable tools when subverting established systems of image consumption. PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will contain images of nudity and hormone injections as well as references to miscarriage and abortion.
Inclusion in Spring 2025 Catalogue
Very excited to be a part of the “I Like Your Work Spring” 2025 catalogue, curated by Leah Triplett. 🍭🍬🍩✨ And so very glad this candy-filled lady is getting the love and attention she deserves.
My dear friend Alexis Beucler sent me this quote from artist Caroline Wayne yesterday: ‘When our own truth feels too ugly to face, often our best deflection is to cover it in confection.’
With that in mind, here’s a giant, twisted sprinkle comb for your Monday perusal. At 18 inches long, from its tiniest tooth to its wiggly handle, it’s undeniably adorbs but entirely impractical—much like trying to comb through today’s wonky political landscape. Every morning, we wake up to a fresh tangle of headlines, proposed policies, and decisions. I have already been affected by them as I know many others have. And yet, we push forward, going through our daily routines and still throwing on a cute outfit—because sometimes, dressing up and continuing to get out there is the only way to deal. 🤷🏼♀️
Expect more of these comb and hairbrush buddies to emerge over the next few months. The “sprinkles” are painted with glossy nail polish and the base is high fired stoneware with plenty of bedazzling.
