Alice In Wonderland In Art!

Time got away from me again. As midnight rapidly approaches, here’s a short post about Lewis Carroll’s “Alice In Wonderland” in contemporary art.

In December 2024, Jeff and I and a friend went to the open studios at Porter Mill in Beverly MA to visit another friend with a studio there. On the first floor of the old former factory building, there is a large display space behind a window. Usually, the artists in the building will display a small piece of something they recently finished. But in December, there was a themed display: Alice In Wonderland.

When I was a kid, there weren’t a lot of Allisons or Alisons or Allysons etc., and some kids couldn’t remember my name or mispronounced my name or maybe it was because I had long blondish hair, they called me Allison Wonderland. I always loved the novel, and I had various versions of Alice’s Adventures Through The Looking Glass as I grew up. So no surprise that I was drawn to the Alice In Wonderland exhibit.

One piece by a favorite artist, Elissa Lincoln, who works in cut paper immediately caught my eye. 

This is the piece as it looked behind the glass at Porter Mill Studios. It’s a small work, but it instantly conveyed Alice to me. You can see her iconic legs and shoes sticking out at the bottom of the collage. And the cards bring to mind one of the scenes with the Queen of Hearts at the end of the story. Anyway, the collage now adorns the wall in my open kitchen, and I love looking at it.

Here’s another fun version of Alice and the Red Queen from the exhibit. Unfortunately, I can’t remember who the artist is. 

This evening, I came upon a photo of another Alice artwork that is part of the current “Down the Rabbit Hole” exhibit at the lovely Jolie Tea shop in downtown Beverly MA. The work is a life size paper dress crafted from pages of the Through The Looking Glass. I intend to go to see the dress and the rest of the exhibit in person this week!

While we’re at it, here is a somewhat restored copy of the original silent movie from 1903 of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. The last scene in the film is sort of the scene depicted in Elyssa Lincoln’s paper collage.

Movies have certainly come a long way in 122 years! But fascinating and a little bit scary nonetheless 😀