Alex Alvis

Alex Alvis lived in the suburbs of Chicago before moving to Colorado in high school.  Alvis was raised with a strong family background in the arts, as her mother was a gifted artist. Her uncle was a professional painter and a mentor for Alex in the arts. Alvis has studied art her entire life and has created art in nearly every medium while taking art classes throughout her entire educational career. She received a Bachelor’s of Art from the University of South Florida in 1998.

Alvis’ work is influenced by an eclectic variety of artists: Dali, Vanderveen, Warhol, Chihuly, Max, Gaudi, Van Gogh, and Banksy, to name a few. She loves much of the art created in the art

deco and Nuevo styles, and the simple design that turned so many everyday things into art that are reflected in the Bauhuas era. For Alvis, each of these styles conveys the spontaneous and original. She sees it as “art that has wonderful, organic collisions of color, material, style, and elegance of design.  There is no direct imitation in this art of what the artists see, but rather a unique creative interpretation of the world manifests itself in their work.”

Alvis made the leap to sculpting full time in 2010. Alex is free to create a body of work that has, in just a few short years, generated a great deal of public enthusiasm and a following of collectors.

Unlike what most sculptors use to create their originals, Alvis uses paper clay. Paper clay has properties that allow her to work on each piece while it is free-standing or in her hands, much like a woodcarver. Paper clay handles very much like earthen water-based clay but is much lighter. It is a very fragile medium to work in and each original is destroyed in the making of the mold for each bronze edition. Alvis' sculptures incorporate unusual elements to communicate beyond the usual conception of a particular style of work.  Her horses have unusually long legs to describe wild horses’ vibrancy and spirit beyond form. Many of her works include rare signature colored patinas. Each new work is painstakingly created with such an unusual material, and reproduced to such an exacting degree, resulting in only a few new original pieces a year and small edition sizes.

Besides horses and sculpting, Alvis’ interests include wild horse advocacy, grassland and livestock management and yoga.

Click here to read an in-depth academic review on Alex Alvis's artwork