Alice Alva’s artwork melds experimental textiles and disciplined painting. It’s rich with colour and joy, keeping the viewer’s eye trained and exploring all the wonderful detail imbued in every piece. The Kirikiriroa artist shines across every medium she touches.
Tell us about your art journey so far
I’m a visual artist and art educator who lives in Kirikiriroa Hamilton with my partner Jeremy, our daughter Daphne and our cat Donna. I work across different mediums, preferring to balance the experimental nature of textiles alongside a more disciplined painting practice. I have been making art for as long as I could hold a crayon to draw on the walls of our family home (much to my parents’ dismay). I’ve been exhibiting my work in galleries across New Zealand and Australia for more than 20 years and I have been an art educator with experience in primary, secondary and tertiary educational sectors for more than a decade.
A lot of your work has been constructed from found materials. What appeals to you about that sourcing and designing process?
First of all, I have always been a big fan of op-shopping – I would say 95 percent of the materials I use are found, either at op-shops or gifted. Secondly, I believe that there is already enough waste in the world and love the potential that found materials offer – making something out of nothing. Nothing quite beats the feel and quality of vintage craft products; in the ’60s and ’70s, there was a lot of local manufacturing of pure craft wool and textile products from companies such as Kaipoi and Mosgiel.
Where does your inspiration tend to come from?
I am a keen gardener and I am forever inspired by both the variety and resilience of nature. You never know which plants are going to be the stars of the summer – the flowers that struggled to survive one season may thrive the next year. Seeds may lie dormant for two years only to pop up and surprise you of their existence the next. I think to love nature is to know that nature loves you back. This also feeds into most of the material selection where I opt to use natural fibres such as wool and cotton over synthetic threads.
Aside from the garden, I am a keen reader of non-fiction. I am currently in my European Art History era with a trip to the UK and Italy lined up later this year. I’m also drawn to lyrics, figures of speech and colloquialisms. I like to remove words from their intended contexts so they can take on a new and sometimes humorous meaning depending on who is engaging with the work.
Colour is such a prominent feature in your work. Have you always been drawn to colour?
Yes, I think for the first 10 years after graduating art school I worked almost strictly with a rainbow colour palette. And then about 10 years ago, when I first started doing embroideries, I was drawn to a highly saturated palette of the brightest hues of each colour for fear that if I used softer pastel colours my embroideries would get dirty when I was working with them. As my work has matured, more earthy shades have seeped in – along with an embargo on black.
How do you choose the colour palette for each piece, particularly for abstract works?
Sometimes it emerges from the mystical – like an emotion or feeling that I am drawn to share in a physical state. Sometimes it can be as rudimentary as pre-prepared frame colour and sometimes it will be simply a process of wanting to use up odds and ends of colours. Generally speaking, the works that feature the most colours are the ones that have been sourced from leftover threads either headed to the bin or hoping for one last chance to be put to use.
Is there a medium you particularly resonate with most?
I love embroidery and textile-based works as they are portable and can be done almost anywhere. It can be picked up and put down without too much hassle. There was a time in my life when I was living in cramped apartments in Wellington where I didn’t have space to paint, which drew me to the flexibility of embroidery. I now have a space for my painting work (it is actually the laundry). Unlike embroidery, I can only paint within that dedicated space so I have to be more disciplined and carve out hours at a time to enjoy the creative flow. Sometimes my choice of media is seasonal too – for example, I prefer to work on my wool rugs and quilts during the colder months as they tend to keep me cosy.
What do you have on the horizon for your art?
I am currently working on two large-scale painting commissions featuring native medicinal plants for Te Whatu Ora to go in a new purpose-built mental health facility here in the Waikato. Towards the end of the year, I have another mural project lined up, working with local primary school students and helping them respond to their natural environment.
Where can our readers find more?
Masterworks Gallery in Auckland and The Mandarin Tree Gallery in Gordonton. Alternatively, my website alicealva.com or my Instagram @alice_alva_art
Read next:
- Inside artist Bronwyn Lloyd’s world of wonder
- How Rhiannon Baldock turned her first garden into a bountiful harvest
- Meet Sara Boult, the Wairarapa clay artist turning emotion into form
