"Curiouser and Curiouser" at the Nucleus Gallery, Alhambra CA

Next Saturday will be the opening night of "Curiouser and Curiouser: Inspired by 'Alice in Wonderland,'" an exhibition of new artwork at the Nucleus Gallery in downtown Alhambra CA.

In addition to work from a remarkably long list of exhibiting artists, opening night will feature a number of artifacts and stills from the impending Disney movie.

... Opening Night only, glimpse into the creative brilliance of Disney Studios as exclusive concept art, production, and film stills will be shown from the upcoming Alice In Wonderland!

Exhibition Features:

• Never-before seen concept art, production and film stills for Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' courtesy of Disney Studios.
• Maquettes for 'Alice in Wonderland' on exhibit courtesy of Gentle Giant Studios.
• Dress up in your best 'Alice' inspired attire for a chance to win prizes.
• Cha for Tea serving up tasty teas.
• Music by DJ Ronicus.

Curiouser and Curiouser: Inspired by "Alice in Wonderland"

February 27 until March 29, 2010

Opening Reception February 27, 7pm - 11pm

Nucleus Gallery, 210 East Main Street, Alhambra CA 91801

Phone: 626-458-7482

Alice at the British Library

Tickets for next Wednesday evening's Alice celebrations at the British Library are now sold out. Congratulations to our London-dwelling friends who managed to secure one. They will be enjoying readings by members of Tim Burton's cast, conversations with the producer and co-producer of the movie, "an appreciation of Alice" by Will Self, and a viewing of a Cecil Hepworth's 1903 "Alice In Wonderland" with live piano accompaniment. I wonder if there are ever scalpers outside British Library events? Bonus points and a special mention on this blog to anyone who procures last minute admission through irregular means.

For those who fail to locate either a scalper or an untended fire escape, there is still the opportunity to view a special exhibition of "Alice's Adventures Under Ground" and related pieces from the Library's collection during regular library opening hours.

Furthermore, tickets are still available for an illustrated talk on March 6 entitled "Lewis Carroll and Photography: Exposing the Truth" in which Carroll scholar Edward Wakeling "examines the impressive reality of Carroll’s photography, including his studies of children, and tackles the myths surrounding his work." Book now to avoid disappointment!

"Lewis Carroll and Photograph: Exposing the Truth"

Saturday, March 6, 2010, 14:30 - 16:00

Conference Centre, The British Library

96 Euston Road, London, UK

£6 / £4 concessions

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.

Anyone for Lanrick?

"Curiouser and Curiouser: The Games and Mind Games of Lewis Carroll," an interactive exhibition of Lewis Carroll's games and puzzles opens today at The Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Library.

From the Library:

The exhibition is drawn largely from the Flodden Heron Collection of Lewis Carroll materials in The Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Flodden W. Heron was an American bibliographer and collector of rare materials on Lewis Carroll. While this exhibition primarily coheres around Carroll's fascination with puzzles and games, the items also reflect Heron's own interests in the author, particularly Carroll's penchant for play and the nature of his relationship with Alice Liddell Hargreaves, the little girl for whom "Alice in Wonderland/"was first written and dedicated.

The University of Illinois owns Carroll's own chess and backgammon board--two pastimes he combined into an entirely original game called "Lanrick." Carroll preferred games of skill and logic over those of chance. His games sought to instruct, but never at the expense of amusement.

The Curiouser and Curiouser exhibition includes special "game tables" where visitors can try some of Carroll's puzzles and games, including Lanrick. Exhibition visitors can also try "mirror writing"--one of Carroll's favorite forms of correspondence. Children are encouraged to attend the five-week exhibition.

The exhibition concludes on March 5 with a Mad Hatter Tea Party for Young People.

"Curiouser and Curiouser: The Games and Mind Games of Lewis Carroll" at The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Library, 1408 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana, IL. from 2 February to March 5, 2010

"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."

William Morris Society Calls for Papers

William Morris was a contemporary of Charles Dodgson, and a colleague in his fascination with medieval aesthetics in literature, art and design.

The William Morris Society has recently issued two calls for papers, which Carrollians may find of interest:

Useful & Beautiful: The Transatlantic Arts of William Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites
Conference at the Univesity of Delaware, Winterthur Museum and Delaware Art Museum
7–9 October 2010

"This conference will focus on the multitude of transatlantic exchanges that involved Morris, the Pre-Raphaelites, and the Arts and Crafts and Aesthetic movements of the late nineteenth century. We will invite papers that explore relationships and influences—whether personal, intellectual, political, or aesthetic—that connect William Morris, his friends, associates, and followers in Britain and Europe with their contemporaries and successors in the Americas..."

Call for Papers (PDF)
Proposals due 15 March 2010

"Morris and the Arts" and "Pre-Raphaleite Use of History"
William Morris Society sessions at the 2011 Modern Language Annual Convention, Los Angeles
5–9 January 2011

On the "Pre-Raphaleite Use of History": "This proposed collaborative session will examine aspects of Victorian historicism, especially neo-medievalism in painting, book design, poetry, romance narrative, translation and other genres. Papers might consider ways in which the Pre-Raphaelites and their associates and successors reshaped the works of Dante, Chaucer, Boccaccio, Froissart, the Icelandic sagas, Malory and other Arthurian sources for a middle-class Victorian audience..."

Call for Papers (website)
Proposals due 20 March 2010

Submission requirements for both events can be found on the William Morris Society website.

Lewis Carroll Society Meeting with Jasper Fforde

Author Jasper Fforde, best known for his novel The Eyre Affair, and other adventures of the courageous literary detective Thursday Next, will be speaking to the Lewis Carroll Society in London on January 29th. Here is the full announcement:

The Lewis Carroll Society is delighted to announce that best-selling contemporary author Jasper Fforde has agreed to give us a talk on the influence that Lewis Carroll has had on his work.

Jasper’s best known series of highly literate comic novels is set in a parallel world where people can move into and out of books and thus change the events in them. The main function of the heroine of this series is to prevent nefarious alterations being made to classic plots by the villains of the piece, and in this she is aided or obstructed by a variety of fictional characters including several from Carroll’s works (such as the renamed Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat, for example!). These novels abound with jokes and puns and wordplay and literary pastiches – remind you of any celebrated nineteenth century Oxford don at all?

This is expected to be a popular meeting so it is essential that anyone attending books in advance. Please send an email to Shirley Jacobs to confirm availability of places, etc.

Doors open 19:00, talk starts at 19:30.

Visit the Lewis Carroll Society Events webpage for booking information.

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 at 8,700 feet

With all the coverage of the forthcoming Tim Burton movie and Syfy channel series, Alice does seem to be getting about at bit lately. However, there must be someone out there left to be surprised at finding her 8,700 feet up a mountain in the French Alps.

The ski resort of Courchevel, favored winter playground of Russian oligarchs, Saudi Arabian princes and well to-do British families, is known for extravagance. Their decision to hold a season-long exhibition of Dali sculptures, including his "Alice in Wonderland", up and down the mountain sides is, therefore, business as usual in that surreal and expensive winter fairyland.

The video below shows the thirteen foot-tall statues of "Alice" and "Woman in Flames" being manoeuvred into place. I particularly like the part where Alice is flying between the mountains, suspended on a long cable beneath the helicopter.

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.

Special Mad Hatter's Tea Party at the Dorchester this week

All week long, the Promenade at the Dorchester (in London's Mayfair on Park Lane) has been transformed into the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, with help from the English National Ballet's young dancers. If you're in old Lud's town, there's still time to catch it this weekend. Author Jenny Woolf says she "thinks the costumes probably come from the Frederick Ashton version of Alice in Wonderland." It's apparently an annual event. From the press release:

The Dorchester’s award-winning afternoon tea will be served with pirouettes, pliés and petit sautés as dancers from English National Ballet dressed as some of the favourite characters from Alice in Wonderland will be found among the specially created decorations and flower displays. Children can look out for favourite characters including the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Dormouse and Alice herself.

Accompanying adults will be able to sink back and enjoy the entertainment with a glass of champagne, delicious savoury finger sandwiches, homemade scones and a selection of indulgent cakes and pastries.

The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party will be served on The Promenade at The Dorchester from 26 October to 1 November 2009 at two sittings, 2.15pm and 4.45pm, and is priced at £47.50 per adult including a glass of Champagne and £30.00 per child. (Prices are inclusive of VAT and exclusive of service charge at 12.5%) For every Mad Hatter’s Tea that is ordered £1 will be donated to Cancer Research UK.

Mad Hatter Day

Just a heads up that Tuesday is Mad Hatter Day. Why? Because it is 10/6!

(I love that he has nervously kicked off his shoes in this picture. Striped socks with a checked suit and polka-dot tie—excellent fashion choice!)

National Book Festival

I regret to inform you that Mr. Lewis Carroll will be unable to attend this year's National Book Festival, which takes place on the National Mall in Washington D.C. on Saturday, September 26. However, the delightful poster for the event, illustrated by artist Charles Santore, most cleverly features Alice, the Hatter, the March Hare, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, and the White Rabbit, front and center as they should be. (Click the image to enlarge.)

Dark Wonderland Ball

Once again I am reminded that Portland is just too cool for words. Then again, what do you expect of a city where the major tourist attraction is a bookstore?
The 6th Annual Dark Alice in Wonderland Ball (click on 'Special Events') will be held at the Bossanova in Portland, OR on Friday, September 18th at 9PM. Traditionally a costumed event celebrating the dark side of Alice in Wonderland with proceeds benefiting local animal shelters. Costume contest at midnight, with dancing and debauchery dark Alice style!

Alice at NY's Museum Village

"Travel down the rabbit hole to Museum Village on the 8th of August and join the Queen to play croquet... Have tea with the Mad Hatter and Alice... Watch as costumed performers fill the stage for a Live Chess Match... Come in best attire for all to admire at the costume contest... And beware the Jabberwocky..."

Special Days

Since it is Canada Day, it seems appropriate to announce an event that takes place on Independence Day... in England.

This Saturday, July 4, Oxford's Story Museum celebrates Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass with Alice's Day. Events include tea parties, croquet games, exhibits, performances, lectures (including some by Edward Wakeling and Mark Richards), walks, games, and more taking place at such interesting and renowned places as the Museum of Natural History, The Bodleian Library, Museum of the History of Science, Museum of Oxford, Christ Church, and the University of Oxford Botanic Garden. If you can't attend, download the souvenir guide instead!

In Focus: Making a Scene

"In Focus: Making a Scene presents more than thirty tableaux, or staged photographs, from the J. Paul Getty Museum’s world-renowned photography collection, on view at the Getty Center (Los Angeles) from June 30–October 18, 2009. ...Among the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century selections are tableaux vivants, or living pictures, such as... Lewis Carroll’s Saint George and the Dragon, inspired by the popular Victorian pastime of dressing up and posing to resemble famous works of art or literary scenes."

Angel's Alice in Salisbury

Spanish illustrator Angel Dominguez has illustrated many children’s books and books about wildlife. The Wonder of Illustration, an exhibition of originals from Dominguez's illustrated edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, is showing at The Salisbury Museum in England from April 4 to July 4.

15th Annual Alice Festival

Alice on bikes

Wheels of Wonderland is an interactive theatrical spectacle—a production of Alice in Wonderland performed entirely on bicycles—celebrating human-powered magic of all shapes and sizes. Featuring the Austin Bike Zoo, a variety of Austin, Texas-based performers and many creative cycling characters, this free event takes place May 2, 3, 9, and 10 in various Austin parks.