Ali Hval hopes to make your winter walk through downtown Iowa City a little more whimsical.

For the second year, the artist and lecturer in painting and drawing at the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History installed a series of Scribble Trees on Iowa City’s downtown pedestrian mall, art that lights up the night along with more traditionally light-wrapped trees.

The public art consists of thousands of feet of rope lights meant to look like doodles on the trees’ trunks.

Hval is from Birmingham, Alabama, and received two art degrees from Iowa (MA 2018, MFA 2019). Her work is interdisciplinary, combining ceramic, fabric, installation, and painting. She also is an avid muralist, having completed more than 40 public murals and projects in communities across the United States.

This year’s Scribble Trees is double the size of last year’s, utilizing 14 trees on both sides of the walkway. While the lighting on the new trees still has a “scribble” feel, Hval says she experimented with new formats, including smaller rope lighting and lights that change color.

“And if the city wants more next year, then I’ll come up with even more versions,” Hval says.

Read her full story: https://stories.uiowa.edu/art-alum-ali-hval-scribble-trees-iowa-city