Honorable Mention for LCSNA-member Tatiana Ianovskaia

Two weeks ago we reported that paintings by LCSNA-member Tatiana Ianovskaia were appearing in "Down the Rabbit Hole," a juried art exhibition in Bakersfield, California. The good news has now reached us that her oil painting "Court" received an honorable mention, one of only three awards given out at the show. "Best in Show" went to artist Nancy Sharp for a mixed media piece entitled "A Very Cheesy Cheshire."

More of Tatiana's Alice-inspired work, including her illustrated Alice in Wonderland, can be viewed from her website.

"Down the Rabbit Hole," featuring many other interpretations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, will remain on display until March 25th at the Younger Gallery, 1440 Truxtun Ave, downtown Bakersfield, CA.

Neat Alice Dust Jacket + Bookmark Design from Icoeye

A designer who specializes in icons, Igor “Rogix” Udushlivy, has a concept for dust jackets with matching bookmarks. "I wonder that it would be great if we can use dust jackets and bookmarks together to create a unique image of a paper book," he writes. "This idea can help to expand book’s space." The elegant design for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is pictured above, and there's dozens more at icoeye.com.

"Down the Rabbit Hole": Juried art exhibition in Bakersfield, California

Central Californian Carrollians and other art lovers should direct their GPS towards Bakersfield, California, for a juried exhibit of art inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice books. The Arts Council of Kern invite members and guests ($5) to the opening tonight (Friday, January 29th, 5:30 to 7:30pm) at the Younger Gallery, 1440 Truxtun Ave., Suite 105, in charming downtown Bakersfield. LCSNA member Tatiana Ianovskaia has had two of her paintings, "Court" (30"x 40", oil,canvas, $1850, ) and "Antipathies" ( 30"x24", acrylic, canvas , $1000 - pictured below and on her website here) chosen by the judge to be included. Also on display is Outside in Wonderland: "Artworks created by the members of the Outside In Visual Arts Workshop, a workshop for artists with developmental disabilities."

"Mad Hatter Card Party", painting by Leonard Filgate

This is a new painting (acrylic on canvas) by California-based artist Leonard Filgate, one of the creators of Rip Squeak. On his fineartamerica.com page, there are several ways to purchase the piece (and there's also a higher-quality image).

-A Giclée Print on either photo paper or canvas (upwards from $32)

-A 5"-by-7" customizable greeting card from $5.75

For a limited edition signed print ($500 plus shipping), or to purchase the original painting (36"-by-24", for $7,500) contact the artist thru his website filgateart.com.

2011 Calender with Iassen Ghiuselev's new Looking-Glass Illustrations

Iassen Ghiuselev's beautiful illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland were published by Simply Read Books in 2003 & will be re-issued in March 2010. (For obvious reasons, are we expecting a lot of timely reissues?) Ghiuselev creates a large Escher-esque poster from which smaller bits are extracted for the individual pages of the book. His Through the Looking-Glass, pictured above, is not yet released, but a 2011 Calender (list price $13.95) is now available for pre-order by Simply Read. (There was a similar such thing with his AAIW in 2007, now hard to find.)

New Poppet Alice from Lisa Snellings

Artist Lisa Snellings makes Poppets. In her words, "They're adorable... and sort of... creepy." Last year she made an Alice in Wonderland series that ran to eight or ten pieces and it seems she may be starting 2010 with a similar project. Currently she is auctioning Alice and the Caterpillar on Ebay (auction closes January 6th) but the item descriptions suggest more Wonderland Poppets may be on their way.

Steampunk Alice Collage by Ramona Szczerba on Etsy

Artist Ramona Szczerba is selling this stylish collage inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on Etsy.com, the online store for handmade craft. This 1 of 1 is still available for $145.

Well, you didn't think Alice WALKED all over Wonderland did you? That place is HUGE, and Alice is way too clever for that. Besides, those maryjanes pinch after a while.
No, Alice has wisely fashioned her favorite wicker chaise into a fabulous Wonderland Cruiser and can be seen motoring about, accompanied by the March Hare (who has also fashioned a means of transport), the White Rabbit, and the hookah-smoking caterpillar (she felt giving him a ride was the least she could do after pressing his mushroom into service as a parasol). With the Dormouse emerging (with a yawn) from her teapot and her small bottle of elixir following on an endtable sidecar, Alice is ready for whatever Wonderland might throw at her next.

This 5" x 7" original collage features a vintage image of Alexandra "Xie" Kitchin (one of Lewis Carroll's favorite child models) in true steampunk style and has been hand-printed, hand cut and hand assembled on a stretched hand painted gallery canvas. It features brown mulberry paper, German Dresden trim and is accented by antiqued pressed brass corners.

Ms. Szczerba and Mark Burstein were e-mailing back and forth this week about the photograph she used for the collage, which he wrote is "not the face of Alice Liddell; it is a photo of another of Carroll's favorite young models, Alexandra 'Xie' Kitchin, taken 14 May 1873." Ms. Szczerba also directed us to her Flikr site, starting here, where she has some more original illustrations for AAIW.

« Alice Still Alive » in its Thirteenth Incarnation

Every year since Lewis Carroll's centennial in 1998, French artist Guy Jacqumin has asked other "Artistes Alicéens" to collaborate on an exhibition around an Alice-related theme, like 2004's Alice à la Folie or 2003's Alice dionysienne. If you're near Paris in the next few weeks, stop by the Centre d'arts plastiques Albert Chanot, 33 rue Brissard, 92140 Clamart. Alice chez Albert et Lucie, the thirteenth Alice still alive, will show starting December 12th, 2009, thru January 3rd, 2010. Previous Alice still alives can be seen at www.alicestillalive.clan.st, which the British Lewis Carroll Society has kindly translated here. (Thanks to Mark Richards and Hugues Lebailly of the LCS for the tip.)

Poet Marianne Moore & Lewis Carroll creatively combined in an exhibition by Sue Johnson at Philadelphia's Rosenbach Museum & Library

The Rosenbach Museum & Library's Artist-in-Residence Sue Johnson has an original installation called Moore Adventures in Wonderland running from September 23rd, 2009, thru June 6th, 2010. The Rosenbach collection is highlighted with large archives by both Lewis Carroll and Marianne Moore, the witty American modernist poet, so Johnson's installation sets out to explore the two writers' connections. In her own words (quoted in last Friday's Philadelphia Daily News):

Moore almost exclusively uses nature as her platform. She doesn't people her poetry very often, and I felt a resonant chord with that. With Carroll, of course, it's Alice's adventures, but it's Alice's adventures with creatures that have been anthropomorphized. So I thought that there was a good conversation that could be had there between two creative people that I felt an affinity with.

Marianne Moore willed to the Rosenbach a room from her Greenwich Village apartment, which was then recreated on site. The exhibition is downstairs from the Moore living room, so Johnson played with the house's layout and available looking-glasses above fireplace mantles: "I was thinking about going through the looking glass upstairs in the Moore room and landing downstairs in the room that I created. So it's almost like watching an old filmstrip, where there's a slippage of the film and you find yourself in another place, down the rabbit hole. I wanted people to be toggling back and forth between those spaces." (also quoted from the Daily News, where there's a further detailed description of the installation.)

The Rosenbach Museum & Library is at 2008-2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, $5 for students and children; closed on Mondays. Too Many Thoughts to Chew: A [Maurice] Sendak Stew is showing simultaneously.

(The Lewis Carroll Society of North America will be meeting at the Rosenbach and viewing Sue Johnson's installation on April 24, 2010. To learn more about the society, see www.lewiscarroll.org. As the meeting date gets closer, we will be posting additional information about our program that day on the society's website. - from Clare Imholtz, LCSNA Secretary)

Alice in Pictureland at the Brandywine River Museum, PA

Here's a rare opportunity to compare famous visual interpretations of Alice side by side, and a must-see for all lovers of children's book illustration - if you live in Pennsylvania that is:

"Alice in Pictureland: Illustrations of Lewis Carroll's Classic Tales"

November 27 though January 10 at the Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania

As the museum describes it:

Alice, the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit and the other wonderful, fanciful figures found in Lewis Carroll's famous books have delighted people of all ages since their first appearance in Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). This exhibition includes work by John Tenniel, the first illustrator of Carroll's Alice stories, as well as by subsequent noteworthy artist-interpreters, including Arthur Rackham, Peter Newell, Jessie Willcox Smith, and Barry Moser. The exhibition features over 40 objects, including original artwork, proofs, prints, and first edition books.

Castle in the Air in Berkeley: Two Carroll Photographs

After a journey lasting several more than a hundred years and considerably more than a hundred miles, two photographs taken by Mr Dodgson have found their way from the developing room on the roof of Christ Church to a small ink shop and gallery on the West Coast of America. Those wishing to visit these far flung fragments of Dodgson's life may find them in Berkeley, California between now and November 18, 2009.

The pictures form part of a small exhibition of portraits of children from the early egg whites and silver days of photography. From Dodgson, there is a "Study of Xie Kitchin" (albumen print, not for sale), an impossibly stern-looking girl, who was also chosen to face the exhibition advertisements. According to Dodgson's diary, the picture was taken in his rooms on June 12, 1873. Xie Kitchin is accompanied by three images of "Bertram and Leonard Rogers Looking at Book in Front of a Chest" (silver print c.1890s, $300 and twin-mounted albumen prints, 1866, Inquire).

Alongside these well-traveled children, hang more hundred-plus year old youths from the work of Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward S. Curtis, Edweard Muybridge and others. The entire exhibition is borrowed from the collection of Wolffe Nadoolman, a Berkeley pediatrician.

Picturing Childhood: Portraits from the Masters of Early Photography (1850-1930), runs from October 10 through November 18, 2009 at Castle in the Air, 1805 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710. (The Castle in the Air website is here, but it's slightly tricky to navigate.)

Chris t. Halverson's Alice Project in Hopkins, Minnesota, October 24th thru November 29th

Carrollians near L’Étoile du Nord should find their way to Hopkins, MN, starting this weekend. Local Minneapolis-based artist Chris t. Halverson has been using our favorite wonderer as his muse for many years in several mediums, an ongoing so-called "Alice Project". He has already displayed some of his Alice work at the Minneapolis Stevens Square Center for the Arts. This showing of mostly new work will run from October 24th through November 29th, at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Main Street, Hopkins, MN 55343. The reception is Saturday from 6-8pm. Ruth Berman writes us "I went to the Stevens Square display and was impressed by his work."

Some of his art can be found at his website thealiceproject.home.mindspring.com - although, turn your speakers down if you don't want to hear an endless loop of the Jefferson Airplane song.

Craftier and craftier

Everyone is getting into the "Alice next March" act... Somerset Studio paper-crafting magazine has a call for Alice in Wonderland-themed submissions: "Get inspired by the madcap adventures of little Alice. And feel free to interpret Alice through Tim Burton's eyes, as we anticipate his long-awaited film that honors this timeless tale by Lewis Carroll. Send us all of your mixed-media creations featuring Tweedles Dee & Dum, the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter, and all the other fantastic characters from Alice in Wonderland to be considered for the Mar/Apr 2010 issue. We must receive your artwork by October 15, 2009."

Wonderland Award

Since 2005, University of Southern California students have created everything from poems, essays, and novels to films, paintings, and sculptures in pursuit of the Wonderland Award, a multidisciplinary competition inspired by the work of Lewis Carroll. The goal of the award is to promote the use of the G. Edward Cassady, M.D., and Margaret Elizabeth Cassady, R.N., Lewis Carroll Collection, held in USC's Doheny Memorial Library. From January 30 to May 16, these artworks can be seen at the library and online.

Poppets in Wonderland

Artist Lisa Snellings, perhaps most known for her 2-inch high Poppet sculptures, now has a series of Wonderland Poppets. The Dormouse, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit, Alice, Caterpillar, and Dee and Dum are available in her eBay store.

Alice Revisited

(c) Ellen Kahn

Artist Ellen Kahn's exhibit of paintings and works on paper, "Alice Revisited," references the hall of doors in Alice in Wonderland and the garden of live flowers in Through the Looking Glass to "focus on the psychological struggle that is involved with trying to break free from childhood and move out into the world to discover one’s own identity." At the 440 Gallery in Brooklyn from February 19 to March 29, 2009.

A Walk Through Wonderland

Oooh, I can't wait! Duirwaigh Gallery's online exhibition "A Walk Through Wonderland" will be held October 27-November 30th 2008 on www.DuirwaighGallery.com. Sculptors, painters and multi-media artists from around the world will present their Alice-inspired works. See the website for the entire list of amazing artists, including Mary Blair!, and the blog for some sneak peaks of the works. (Also be sure to check out the Gallery's short film "A Knock at the Door", which includes several Alice images.)

Dodgson photos in Italy

The exhibit "I Rossetti tra Vasto e Londra" ("The Rossettis between Vasto and London") includes photographs of the Rossetti family (the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, poet Christina Rossetti, and their siblings, the critic William Michael Rossetti and author Maria Francesca Rossetti) taken by their close friend Charles Dodgson. The exhibit is at the Musei Civici di Palazzo d’Avalos, Vasto, Italy, from August 14 until November 16. For further information in English, see the Times article, "Italian homecoming for Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti."

The ultimate "off with their heads"!

Artist Judith G. Klausner has recreated the "painting the roses red" scene from Alice in Wonderland... with the Queen of Hearts and Card Gardeners made from preying mantises!

Stuck in Wonderland

(c) Jett Jackson

Note the pending release of a new Alice-themed seriagraph by artist Jett Jackson, entitled "Stuck in Wonderland," published by the Salvador Dali Society. There will be a limited edition of 250 prints in the United States, to be released on November 1, 2008.