An acclaimed visual artist and filmmaker, Alison O’Daniel is this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Claire Trevor School for the Arts. Tiffany López, Claire Trevor Dean of the Arts, has described Alison as “an outstanding model of UC Irvine’s mission of research, teaching and creative expression.”

After earning her B.F.A. in fibers and material studies from the Cleveland Institute of Art and a postgraduate diploma of fine art from Goldsmiths, University of London, Alison completed her M.F.A. in studio art at UC Irvine.

As a visual artist and filmmaker who is d/Deaf/Hard of Hearing, she works with sound, moving images, sculpture and large-scale installations while advocating for access to the arts. Alison is a United States Artist Disability Futures Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow. Her experiences growing up with hearing aids and learning American Sign Language (ASL) as an adult help shape her creative and unique approach to filmmaking.

Her most recent project, The Tuba Thieves, is an unconventional documentary she directed that explores the sounds of Los Angeles from a d/Deaf/Hard of Hearing perspective and considers how listening can become a form of storytelling. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023 and used open captioning that Alison and two other hard-of-hearing members of her team developed to create a more accessible audiovisual experience.

Alison was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film and has received Louis Comfort Tiffany and Creative Capital awards. Her work has been screened and exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, and she has received grants from numerous organizations, including the Ford Foundation and Sundance Institute.

Alison stays closely connected with friends she made at UC Irvine and takes pride in the creativity of the university’s lively arts community, often referring to the alumni and faculty as her “go-to” support network.