Isolina Minjeong Alva

Born and raised in Glenview, IL to a professional tennis player & federal goverment employee, Isolina investigates the history of companionship by turning their drawings into sculptures that make them laugh and feel small. Referring to these monuments as the Little Woogies, they are a growing society of ceramic protagonists that pull from early 2000’s cartoons and the many global adventures Isolina has been on with their mom. By creating in an intuitive and tender state of mind, their materials become figures who emit love & company!

As a free-wheeling multiracial American, Isolina exercises a freedom by combining the love of their Spanish and Peruvian grandparents with the work ethic of their single mother from South Korea. The bigger they build, the more they love their mom, the more I love the world!

“What a God damn pleasure it is to be human!”