Profile
ALI RUFRANO-RUFFNER (she/they) is a Brooklyn-based internationally shown artist, sculptor, muralist, and creative producer whose practice is rooted in metal, material experimentation, and spatial storytelling. ALI’s work translates cultural reference and lived experience into tactile, immersive environments. Influenced by radical love, graffiti, glamour, music, digital culture, and collective making, their work is grounded in class consciousness and care-based, abolitionist approaches to space, labor, and access. As a highly trained artist and fabricator, she works fluently across materials, (fine metals, steel, textiles, wood) bridging concept and execution through structurally rigorous, emotionally resonant installations. ALI’s practice operates at the intersection of public art, fabrication, and radical collaboration. Their teaching emphasizes class consciousness, material literacy, spatial thinking, and rigorous studio practices. They believe art is among the most robust tools for experimentation, collaboration, and collective world-building that remains playful, grounded, and deeply human.
Degrees Held
Graduate Certificate in Interior and Architectural Design Software - Parsons School of Design, The New School
M.Ed in Art Education - Tyler School of Art + Architecture
BFA in Studio Art - University of Delaware
BS in Gender Studies - University of Delaware
Professional Affiliation
The Brooklyn Museum, The Van Alan Institute, Socrates Sculpture Park, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, the MTA, Mural Arts Philadelphia, Otherworld Philadelphia, New York Fashion Week, The Metal Museum, The Rail Park Philadelphia, Vox Populi Gallery, Tyler School of Art + Architecture and others
Recent Publications
You Are Amazing Like a Rocket: Pep Talks for Everyone from Young People Around the World (Jessica Martin & Asherah Weiss, 2024), contributing artist.
Performances and Appearances
Estudio Abierto (Open Studio), Sur No Sur Pocoapoco Residency, Oaxaca, Mexico
Multiple Exhibitions, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Research Interests
fine arts, sculpture, metalwork, public art, murals, street art, graffiti, feminist art, queer art, LGBTQIA+ youth arts, labor and materials, fabrication pedagogy, spatial practice, collective authorship, speculative futures, participatory design, visual culture, pleasure activism, climate justice, renewable energy for artists, solar power for artists
Awards And Honors
Creative Re-Use Public Art Project, 42nd Street — MTA Real Estate, New York, NY (selected project)
Selected Finalist Proposal, Futures Without Flooding — Van Alen Institute, New York, NY
RADical Impact Grant Recipient — City of Pittsburgh
Microgrant Recipient — The Rail Park, Philadelphia
USA TODAY 10 Best — Winner, Best New Attraction (2024); #6 Best Immersive Art Experience (2023–2025), Otherworld Philadelphia (featured artist)