About Ali
If my life were a painter’s palette, it would be covered in as many vibrant colors as could possibly fit. Bold color in many ways identifies me, because the only way I know how to engage with life is with energy, imagination, creativity, passion, and connecting with others.
My color palette includes:
MISSION
Creating positive change in the world using passion, art, education, activism, and commitment to community
PASSIONS
For design, visual arts, museums, dance, education, social activism, Mexican art, and my hero Frida Kahlo
ART
A mixed media sculptor, painter, and theater set designer always on the hunt for fun discarded, found, and natural materials to incorporate
STUDIO
An Amish barn flanked by organic gardens is a place of both joyful chaos and inspired purpose, where children and I can create, share ideas, listen to music, be playful, and feel welcome
FAMILY
Four siblings, an artist mother and physicist father, four wonderful kids–two daughters and two stepsons–and an amazingly supportive partner
COMMUNITY
Which extends from the Hudson Valley down to New York City and includes longtime friendships, chosen family in the LGBTQIA+ and arts community, and volunteering to bring about change
ACTIVISM
Mind and heart devoted to a wide spectrum of social justice and environmental causes and influencing public policy for the greater good
EDUCATION
Working with children and teens to empower and inspire them as artists and citizens of the world
GARDENS
Planting and nurturing growing things in my own gardens or public spaces not only as a source of beauty and nourishment but as a healing tool for body, mind, and spirit
I became an arts educator in NYC, ushering in one of the most meaningful chapters of my life— one that continues to expand.
In a visual art classroom, children become artists, and by doing so open to countless possibilities within themselves they may never have considered. Bearing witness to that is profoundly rewarding.
It is important to me that the skills and experience of creating art are combined with cultural context and what has come before. I love teaching the history of art from all eras and cultures, something that aligns with my deeply held belief in equity, inclusion, and belonging, and helping myself and my students keep a wide open world-view.
View Artist Statement
Fun Facts
Check out a few more fun facts to get to know me better. I hope you enjoy poking around my website and that you’ll reach out to me!
- As a child I participated in creating an outdoor gallery for the artwork of the kids in my neighborhood. It also had a hair salon for dolls and a bakery.
- I learned how to use handheld and power woodworking tools from my dad and I have always incorporated those skills in the art room with my students.
- As an art major at SUNY Purchase College for Visual Arts and Set Design, I became a welder as an artist and for four years worked as a welding assistant for Tal Streeter, internationally renowned artist, creating large-scale public sculptures.
- I started a program called Art for Hospitals that I continued for over 30 years, working with children to create art to exhibit in the children’s wards and auction to raise funds for art supplies for art therapy programs at NYC and Hudson Valley hospitals.
- I can’t go anywhere without seeing discarded and scrap items-of-everyday-life as possible art materials. I collect them in the bag I never leave home without and they are given new life by me or my students in art projects.
- The craziest summer job I ever had was as a disco dancer at Club Marakesh in Westhampton Beach, LI and selling lion’s head disco whistles. Not exactly my childhood dream of being a back-up dancer on Soul Train, but close enough.
- My studio is always full of danceable music. My favorites are R&B, hip hop, and disco.