Artist Bio

Iraqi American Abstract Artist, Designer and Founder of HZL Art and Design LLC. creating original paintings and seasonal décor for commercial and residential spaces.

As a resident artist of the District of Columbia, Hiba was recognized by The District of Columbia Office of Cable Television, Film, Music, and Entertainment (OCTFME) in November 2021, as “DC STAR” for the 4th Quarter of 2021. Ms. Alyawer was also Mayor’s Arts Awards nominee for 2021. Her latest public art sculpture was for a juried group show for the 2021 National Cherry Blossom Festival. The sculpture titled “Happy Dots” was exhibited at National Landings. For Hiba, community engagement is a big part of her life as she looks forward to her returns to volunteer at the SITAR Arts Center in the spring of 2022 teaching Abstract Art Class for an after-school youth program student.

Hiba is DC's Sleepless Artist as she works through the night painting and sleeps very little while maintaining a successful career as a Data Scientist. Hiba is always inspired to create artwork that tells a story to the prying eye and inquisitive mind. Her work gives a feeling of optimism and cheerfulness created by the accents of color and design energy which exudes from her work. Through her work, an expression of her own experiences and moments, Hiba hopes to inspire people and awaken their playful inner child with her vivid colors and playful marks. Her works are in private collections in the United States (FL, TX, MA, CO, CA, and Washington D.C.), United Kingdom, Turkey, Canada, and Dubai. Her work was recently purchased by Celebrity Chef, Carl Hall and the work was featured in Discovery + “My Dream Kitchen”

Hiba’s passionate expression of feelings, thoughts and outlook on life began at a young age. She painted on scraps of cardboard and newspaper. Many of her paintings were sketched while she sat beside her family and neighbors in a basement in Kuwait during Desert Storm’s bombing campaign. Art was her only mental refuge from the earth rattling bombing, and she drew and painted the skies in bullet colors. What she lacked in paint she made up for in vision and feeling love for those she knew, fear of the unknown, and the yearn to escape to a more colorful, border-less reality.