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Alice Alva

(b. 1986, Hamilton, New Zealand – Kirikiriroa, Aotearoa)

Solo exhibitions

She drew the flower that started the power, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2025)

Common Thread, Nancy Caiger Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand (2022)

A means to an end, Wallace Gallery Morrinsville, Morrinsville, New Zealand (2021)

Pictorial Architecture, Artspost Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand (2019)

Pattern Recognition, Collection of works for the Pah Shop – Mantel Pieces Series, TSB Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland, New Zealand (2018)

Over/Under, Toi Pōneke Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (2017)

Bus stop mural, Commissioned by Wellington Regional Council, Mount Victoria, Wellington, New Zealand (2016)

The hand of the artist is present, Dunedin Public Art Gallery – Rear Window Project, Dunedin, New Zealand (2015)

tête-à-tête, The Pyramid Club, Wellington, New Zealand (2014)

I need to get a life, where can I download one?, Brunswick Arts Space, Brunswick, VIC, Australia (2013)

Diploastrea Heliopora, Through the Looking Glass Installation Space, The Workers’ Club, Fitzroy, VIC, Australia (2009)

Group exhibitions

Steps, O.K. Violet, Brunswick East, VIC, Australia, (2025)

Go Small 25, Framing House, Hamilton East, Hamilton, New Zealand (2025)

Seven Day Work Week, The 45th Degree, Wanaka, New Zealand (2025)

Hot Button, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2025)

Go Small 24, Framing House, Hamilton East, Hamilton, New Zealand (2024)

Full Circle, group show curated by Seed Gallery, Studio One Toi Tu, Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand (2024)

Ten, The Mandarin Tree, Gordonton, New Zealand (2024)

The Art of Making, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2024)

The flower gives it’s fragrance to the hand which crushes it, Newlands Art Space, Dunedin, New Zealand (2024)

Raumati Summer Salon, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2023)

Go Small 23, Framing House, Hamilton East, Hamilton, New Zealand (2023)

Mother/Nature, Duo show with Emma Huia Lovegrove, The Mandarin Tree, Gordonton, New Zealand (2023)

Threads, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2023)

Touch of a Button, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2023)

A Collection Sample, selection of artworks from the Wallace Arts Trust’s collection, Wallace Gallery, Morrinsville, New Zealand (2023)

Crosses and Losses, group show, Pah Homestead, Auckland, New Zealand (2022)

Text Tile, group show curated by Anna Fiedler, Madeline Simm and Tia Ansell, Caves, Melbourne, VIC, Australia (2022)

It’s a Stitch Up!, group exhibition curated by Rachel Kiddie McClure, Ramp Gallery, Waikato Institute of Technology, Hamilton, New Zealand (2022)

Opening Show, Oddly Project Space, Auckland, New Zealand (2022)

Keepin’ on, Never Project Space, Hamilton, New Zealand (2021)

Raumati Summer Salon, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2021)

Kotahitanga Through Creativity, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand (2021)

All is Full of Love, group exhibition curated by Wesley John Fourie, Broker Galleries, Queenstown, New Zealand (2021)

Group show, Lost Loves Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2021)

Button up, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2021)

GRID, duo show with Claudia Aalderink, The Mandarin Tree, Gordonton, New Zealand (2021)

Daisy Chain, Den Project Space, Christchurch, New Zealand (2021)

Cloth, Masterworks Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2021)

WORK, Never Project Space, Hamilton, New Zealand (2021)

In good shape, group show curated by Seed Gallery, Studio One Toi Tu, Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand (2020)

Go Small, Framing House, Hamilton East, Hamilton, New Zealand (2020)

Adults only collection, Mashuko, Wellington, New Zealand (2020)

Gravity and Levity, Group show curated by Seed Gallery, Tuesday Club, Auckland, New Zealand (2020)

Wellington artists’ collection, Mashuko, Wellington, New Zealand (2020)

Into the centre of love with you, Duo show with Wesley John Fourie, Never Project Space, Frankton, Hamilton, New Zealand (2020)

Tutti Frutti, curated by Eliza Webster, Skinroom, Hamilton, New Zealand (2020)

Point Blank, curated by Seed Gallery, Studio One Toi Tū, Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand (2019)

Cul-de-sac, curated by Chloe Geoghegan, RM Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (2018)

All in #2, Group show, Wallace Gallery, Morrinsville, New Zealand (2017)

It’s all in the Title, Wallace Gallery (in partnership with Pilot Space, Hamilton), Morrinsville, New Zealand (2015)

Started from the Bottom, Pilot Space, Hamilton, New Zealand (2014)

Postlove, None Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand (2014)

Paper Cuts, Experimental Space – Union House, Melbourne University Campus, Carlton, VIC, Australia (2010)

This must be the place, curated by Patrice Sharkey for MUDFest11, Melbourne University Campus, Carlton, VIC, Australia (2009)

Alva vs. Good, Alice Alva and Natalie Good, New Friends Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand (2008)

Multiples, New Friends Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand (2008)

Hand/Eye, Ariki Gallery, Hamilton, New Zealand (2007)

Bid on Me, Fundraiser Exhibition, Platform01, Hamilton, New Zealand (2007)

The Party, Platform01, Hamilton, New Zealand (2007)

Coasting, Artspost, Hamilton, New Zealand (2006)

Awards

2023 Cleveland National Awards – Special Mention, Otago Art Society, Dunedin, New Zealand (2023)

Changing Threads 23 – Finalist, Arts Council Nelson (2023)

Molly Morpeth Canaday Prize 2021 – Finalist, Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi, Whakatane (2021)

27th Annual Wallace Art Award – Finalist, selected for the traveling group show, TSB Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland, New Zealand (2018)

Parkin Drawing Prize 2018 – Finalist, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, New Zealand (2018)

Press

Alice Alva – She drew the flower that started the power, exhibition review by Linda Tyler, Art New Zealand, Summer 2025-26

Celebrating 10 years and 100 Boon murals, The Waikato Local, 26 November 2025

Boon Street Art Festival 2025: Hamilton’s 100th mural a community collaboration, Malisha Kumar, The Waikato Herald, 17 March 2025

Boon Street Art Festival 2025: Community invited to help paint Hamilton’s 100th mural, Danielle Zollikhofer, Waikato Herald, 22 February 2025

Alice Alva: Multi-discipinary visual artist. Creative Connections podcast interview with Mandy Jakich, May 2025

Stitch by stitch: How Alice Alva transforms embroidery into whimsical fine art, by Nicole Barratt, This NZ Life, 2022

Meet the Maker: Visual artist Alice Alva, by Shandelle Battersby, NZ House and Garden Magazine, January 2022

Interview with Maggie Tweedie, Radio Active, Wellington, New Zealand, 2021

Artist Spotlight: Alice Alva, interview with Wesley John Fourie, The Art Paper, New Zealand, 2021

Speculative Stitching: Aotearoa Artists and Embroidery, by Thomasin Sleigh, Pantograph Punch, New Zealand, 2020

Blissful Amorous Ecstasy, by Peter Dornauf, Eyecontact Magazine, New Zealand, 2020

Drawn with thread, interview for Art Zone Magazine, New Zealand, 2020

What’s Hot? Our Spring Picks, by Faith Wilson, Pantograph Punch, New Zealand, 2020

Q&A: Alice Alva, Capital Magazine, New Zealand, 2020

Kotahitanga through creativity, interview for Creative Waikato, New Zealand, 2020

27th Annual Wallace Awards 2018, by Peter Dornauf, Eyecontact Magazine, 2019

Pictorial Architecture, interview for ArtsPost Galleries, New Zealand, 2019

A cul-de-sac, an inescapable position, essay by Chloe Geoghegan for cul-de-sac exhibition at RM Gallery, Auckland, 2018

Do artworks require titles? by Peter Dornauf, Eye Contact Magazine, 2015

Publications/media

Contributor: Boon Street Art Festival What Happens After the Artists Leave – Documentary, November 2025

Contributor: Folly Journal (New Zealand), issue 1/2023

Cover artist: Sweet Mammalian – New Zealand Literary Journal (New Zealand), issue 8/2021

Contributor: Femishere Zine (New Zealand), issue 4/2021

Illustrator: Lunch Lady Magazine (Australia), issue 8/2017

Illustrator: Massive Magazine (New Zealand), issue 3/2015

Cover artist: The Victorian Writer (Australia), March 2015

Contributor: Womanzine 09 Pattern (USA), August 2013

Education

Bachelor of Media Arts (Visual Arts) Waikato Institute of Technology, Hamilton (2005 – 2007)

Postgraduate Diploma in Visual Communication Design with Distinction, Massey University, Wellington (2014)

Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Secondary) – Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington (2015)

Certificate of Te Reo Māori – Te Wānanga o Raukawa, Otaki (2016)

Certificate in Art (Māori) – Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Waiwhetu, Lower Hutt (2017)