FALON MIHALIC

ARTIST STATEMENT 2026

I am a sculptor based in Texas working in ceramics, painting, and environmental installation. I take ephemeral natural systems and hidden ecologies like local weather and water bodies and I give them form by mapping, making, and building their fleeting qualities into permanent sculptures and paintings. My studio is my laboratory. I rigorously test the colorful, moody and emotional qualities of ceramics, glass, and pigments to transform how we experience color and light, and then the world around us.

I take my studio materials through a magical alchemy of transformation: clay is fired in the kiln, I formulate glazes from powdered glass, and mold making for casting involves a radical transformation of forming a liquid into a solid shape through a chemical reaction. I see similarities between clay and watercolor painting for their organic, flowing manipulation of water. Working with my hands helps me navigate a space between my artistic vision and what the material can teach me. I find that dialogue between my hands and the medium very satisfying. I’m often trying to convince a rigid material into a kind of flow state: a precise resin wave, a perfect color gradation in polycarbonate, or a steel structure that feels light.

Each project is an experiment. It asks questions about how our feelings of wonder and sublime are intertwined with the natural world. I am inspired by magical realism and science fiction for the ways that they imagine a reality that feels like it’s at the edge of possibility. I have a science and ecology background and I am a licensed landscape architect. My training in landscape ecology gives me a special lens for viewing the world. That lens is like a magnifying glass for my work and helps me see how the ecological connections and histories embedded in places makes them special.

My public art commissions tell the stories of fluctuating patterns and hidden ecologies. With my monumental artworks, I am revealing hidden ecological qualities and placing them at the forefront of the public’s imagination.