‘Doodle Trees’ shine new light in downtown Iowa City

IOWA CITY — Ali Hval is used to going big with her art, creating giant murals around Iowa and beyond. But her latest creation stretched her from her flat-wall comfort zone and into the 3D realm.

Outdoors, in cold weather.

While her murals beckon visitors during long days of sunlight, her six “Doodle Trees” covered with squiggles are lighting up long winter nights along a stretch of downtown Iowa City’s Pedestrian Mall, near the Weatherdance Fountain.

Hval, who earned an MFA with honors in drawing and painting from the University of Iowa in 2019, had previously used rope lights to outline her mural on the front of Studio 13 in downtown Iowa City. So when Betsy Potter, director of creative services for the Iowa City Downtown District, contacted Hval this fall about decorating some trees, the artist again turned to weather-friendly rope lights.

“(Potter) mentioned that she had seen these different light projects going on in downtowns, where the trees would be covered in lights in different ways,” Hval, 29, of Iowa City, said via Zoom during a mid-December vacation stop in Tasmania.

She said this project took a cue from the Downtown Singing Trees, an interactive public art installation that debuted last December on the north end of the Ped Mall, featuring icicle lights that change color and intensity when triggered by nearby sounds.

“If you clap your hands, or if it hears music, they'll start to change in response to that,” Hval said. “I think (the Downtown District) wanted to sort of build on that and do a different installation,” in addition to having lights wrapped around branches elsewhere.

“Ali has worked with us in the past on a neon rope light installation, so we turned to her to come up with a creative design that would bring color and fun to the Pedestrian Mall,” Potter said.

“They wanted something that was more artsy and playful, and could last the whole winter, not just around Christmas,” Hval noted.

“And so I came up with this idea of these ‘Doodle Trees.’ I was thinking about gesture drawings, and how gesture drawings are just very whimsical and use these very quick marks to describe an object. And so these trees just ended up being covered in these squiggles and these swirls, wrapping all the way up around the top of the tree. …

“They'll definitely be able to stay up through the entire winter, and brighten up the downtown when it's covered in snow and salt, and the snow gets a little brown. They’ll provide something else to look at other than the clumps of dirty snow on the ground.”

She was high off the ground in mid-November, using a lift to reach the upper limits of her doodles. Each tree is festooned with four 100-foot lengths of colored rope lights, with each strand being a different color. She secured them with zip ties, using giant ties to wrap around the tree, and smaller ones to attach the squiggles to each other.

“I would use that first rope light as a matrix to wrap other ones, and secure it onto that,” she said. “The tree wasn’t harmed in any way. There’s no nails put into it, just zip ties, and they’re still relatively loose — and squirrels can climb up them, so it’s very nature-friendly.”

The Downtown District’s funding sources provided the materials, including 2,400 feet of rope lights, and paid Hval $3,000 for her efforts.

Each design took about three or four hours to complete, depending on how long Hval’s fingers could function in the cold weather, and she was able to finish two trees per day. All told, it took about three days to create the Doodle Trees.

“I got really unlucky,” she said. “I was going to start putting them up when the weather was still pretty warm, and then it suddenly turned to like 20 degrees.”

Her work, however, has been heating up conversations in-person and online.

“Even as I was installing them, and getting into the night, people were walking up to them and taking photos in front of them, which is a very positive reaction,” Hval said. “As I'm putting them up, people are saying how much they like them, and ‘thank you for like beautifying the downtown.’

“And even just like comments that I'm seeing on Facebook and Instagram of people saying how much they enjoy them, and how much it brightens up the downtown. So I think it's been a very positive change for the downtown.”

If the beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder, she has a special wish for those who see the whimsical trees.

“I hope it just brings people a lot of joy, especially with the winter. I think that's all you can ask for,” she said. “And also help people see something in a new light, literally. You always see these trees downtown, but here's a way to kind of look at it a little differently.”

Winter night lights

“The Doodle Trees are one part of a larger Winter Night Lights event coming for the month of February to downtown Iowa City,” Potter said. “The event will center around artistic light features on the Pedestrian Mall for the entire month.”

The Doodle Trees will be joined by a new light canopy, the Singing Trees, Friday night Silent Disco events, and international artist Amanda Parer's “Intrude,” an environmental awareness installation featuring five "huge“ inflatable, illuminated rabbits, which has hopped to more than 30 cities around the globe.

Funding for Winter Night Lights will come from The Iowa City Downtown District, Think Iowa City, University of Iowa and various sponsors.

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com