USC Wonderland Award

Naomi Frank 2009

Bianca Hernandez
2013 Major: Visual Anthropology Masters Student

Megan Lowe Anderson

2007
4th Prize
Major: Chemistry Senior

Knitted Doll: Wool alpaca, silk, mohair, paper & ink, polyester fill.

Inspired by Lewis Carroll's poem, "The Hunting of the Snark., Anderson's take on the poem is a faceless knitted doll she called Send Woolen Manager (a clever anagram of her name). In addition, the doll is stuffed with scraps of paper printed with lines from the Snark. Anderson's work pays tribute to Carroll's love of nonsense with her description of the doll's hands: "Four tentacles on each hand instead of fingers; the function is the same, but can I still call it a hand when it isn't?"

Aroussiak Gabrielian
2016

Major: Media Arts and Practice
PhD Program

Art Object

The rich array of artifacts in the Cassady Collecttion exhibit wide-ranging experimental methods of storytelling by artists re-interpreting Carroll’s tales. I chose the mutoscope as an-other interactive method of experiencing Carroll’s stories because of my training in cinema and because it is an antiquated form of film-ic technology, suitable for the curious obsolescence of the card catalogue room. 

When the box is opened, the viewer encounters Carroll’s quotation (in his handwriting): “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end then stop.” Yet rather than discover a story with beginning and end, the mutoscope has neither. With a looping narrative, the labyrinth-like logic mirrors Carroll’s playful humor. While the image content pictures a fall down the rabbit hole into a whimsical land-scape below, the “reel” can be switched out of the mutoscope for any number of imaginary landscapes. The object thus becomes a portal into wonderland.

Click to view artist statement.

Aroussiak Gabrielian
2016

Major: Media Arts and Practice
PhD Program

Art Object

The rich array of artifacts in the Cassady Collecttion exhibit wide-ranging experimental methods of storytelling by artists re-interpreting Carroll’s tales. I chose the mutoscope as an-other interactive method of experiencing Carroll’s stories because of my training in cinema and because it is an antiquated form of film-ic technology, suitable for the curious obsolescence of the card catalogue room. 

When the box is opened, the viewer encounters Carroll’s quotation (in his handwriting): “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end then stop.” Yet rather than discover a story with beginning and end, the mutoscope has neither. With a looping narrative, the labyrinth-like logic mirrors Carroll’s playful humor. While the image content pictures a fall down the rabbit hole into a whimsical land-scape below, the “reel” can be switched out of the mutoscope for any number of imaginary landscapes. The object thus becomes a portal into wonderland.

Click to view artist statement.

Aroussiak Gabrielian
2016

Major: Media Arts and Practice
PhD Program

Art Object

The rich array of artifacts in the Cassady Collecttion exhibit wide-ranging experimental methods of storytelling by artists re-interpreting Carroll’s tales. I chose the mutoscope as an-other interactive method of experiencing Carroll’s stories because of my training in cinema and because it is an antiquated form of film-ic technology, suitable for the curious obsolescence of the card catalogue room. 

When the box is opened, the viewer encounters Carroll’s quotation (in his handwriting): “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end then stop.” Yet rather than discover a story with beginning and end, the mutoscope has neither. With a looping narrative, the labyrinth-like logic mirrors Carroll’s playful humor. While the image content pictures a fall down the rabbit hole into a whimsical land-scape below, the “reel” can be switched out of the mutoscope for any number of imaginary landscapes. The object thus becomes a portal into wonderland.

Click to view artist statement.

Sara Hegarty 4th Prize Major: Film & Television, Production Graduate Student Art installation. A compilation of objects chosen to represent the personality and interests of Lewis Carroll. Included are: 41 small illustrated playing cards, two cabinet cards of little girls, a brass table mirror, a writing tool, a pink ribbon or sash from a little girl's dress, and an 1863 school arithmetic book. Art installation by Sara Hegarty. A compilation of objects chosen to represent the personality and interests of Lewis Carroll. Included are: 41 small illustrated playing cards, two cabinet cards of little girls, a brass table mirror, a writing tool, a pink ribbon or sash from a little girl's dress, and an 1863 school arithmetic book.

Naomi Frank 2009

Naomi Frank 2009

Bianca Hernandex
2013 Major: Visual Anthropology Masters Student

Bianca Hernandex
2013 Major: Visual Anthropology Masters Student

Bianca Hernandex
2013 Major: Visual Anthropology Masters Student

Bianca Hernandex
2013 Major: Visual Anthropology Masters Student

Pierre Pandy 2013 Major: Creative Writing and Digital Based Media Senior Art object The piece is the Mad Hatter’s Hat from the seventh chapter of the book. The hat is on a golden platter to illustrate the desire for the Queen of Hearts to have the Hatter’s head. The hat plays with the puns of being unhinged and having some screws loose. It is split in half giving the audience a unique glimpse inside one of the most famous characters in fiction.

Pierre Pandy 2013 Major: Creative Writing and Digital Based Media Senior Art object The piece is the Mad Hatter’s Hat from the seventh chapter of the book. The hat is on a golden platter to illustrate the desire for the Queen of Hearts to have the Hatter’s head. The hat plays with the puns of being unhinged and having some screws loose. It is split in half giving the audience a unique glimpse inside one of the most famous characters in fiction.

Emily Grandcolas
2013

April Zhang 2013 Major: Fine Arts, Junior Plaster sculpute with lace and Splenda

Andrew Woodham
1st Prize
2012
Major: Moleular Genetics, Cellular Biology

Sculpture of interwoven Bicycle cards

Reanne Noakes

Major: Fine Arts
Freshman

Art object and book

The piece that I am submitting is a sculptural portrayal of a keepsake box full of collected artifacts from Alice’s adventures. I imagine Alice opening this box and feeling a sense of warm nostalgia, seeing small details from her time in Wonderland. Some of these details include collages of original illustrations by John Tennial, figurines of major characters, and small containers of potions labeled “drink me.” A portrait of the Queen of Hearts and a dried rose from her garden have been included to pay tribute to Carroll’s lesser known career as a portrait artist. Carroll himself was a man of many talents, including mathematics, ministry, writing, painting, and photography, which is why I decided to use a mixed media approach to this piece. The combination of sculptural design, painting, collage, and graphic design elements is a reference to the wide range of mediums utilized by Lewis Carroll throughout his life. The piece itself evokes feelings of whimsy through the use of bright colors, fabric flowers, and gemstones.

Click to view artist statement.

Reanne Noakes

Major: Fine Arts
Freshman

Art object and book

The piece that I am submitting is a sculptural portrayal of a keepsake box full of collected artifacts from Alice’s adventures. I imagine Alice opening this box and feeling a sense of warm nostalgia, seeing small details from her time in Wonderland. Some of these details include collages of original illustrations by John Tennial, figurines of major characters, and small containers of potions labeled “drink me.” A portrait of the Queen of Hearts and a dried rose from her garden have been included to pay tribute to Carroll’s lesser known career as a portrait artist. Carroll himself was a man of many talents, including mathematics, ministry, writing, painting, and photography, which is why I decided to use a mixed media approach to this piece. The combination of sculptural design, painting, collage, and graphic design elements is a reference to the wide range of mediums utilized by Lewis Carroll throughout his life. The piece itself evokes feelings of whimsy through the use of bright colors, fabric flowers, and gemstones.

Click to view artist statement.

Katrina Gaines-Spears

2017
Major: Fine Arts
Senior

Art Installation, Doheny Library

My piece, Carrollian Cards, relates to Lewis Carroll in more than name. I was inspired by his poems, postulates, advice, logic, and creativity and drew from his writings to create the text for my cards. A man with diverse interests, I wanted to express a few of his thoughts in the hope that they would provide a bit of amusement or reflection to viewers. I also used some of Carroll’s details from the Alice stories in designing how the installation would look – like the playing card patters and a label saying “Take Me”. Finally, I think my artwork is Carrollian in its creative absurdity: it is complex, imaginative, and takes a little-used space in the library and turns it into the site of an experience for the viewer.

Click to view artist statement.

Ashley Alizor

2015
Major: Film Production
Master's Degree

Object

The duality that I want to focus on in Alice in Wonderland are the two worlds Carroll puts forth, the river bank and the wonderland, the physical and the metaphysical world. Worldbuilding is when you build a fictional environment with parameters and rules, which help the audience understand the world and it’s characters. Ingeniously, Carroll’s Wonderland is  a world that has no limits and those are it’s parameters. athematicians such as Dodgson study chaos and chance through theoretical mathematics. So, it is no surprise that we can actually track clearly traditional ideas of chaos and change in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Combining mathematics and art, Carroll creates a world that grows and changes without limit, logically and illogically. 

Click to view artist statement.

Jesisica Druxman

2008
3rd Prize
Major: Fine Arts, Studio Art

Senior 17-piece ceramic tea set with 4 invitations and a photo album depicting students having a tea party.

Becky Cho

2014
Major: Planning
Masters

Object

I am an urbanist. I have been educated to appreciate, understand, and analyze the city from a regional scale down to its neighborhoods, blocks, and houses; this piece celebrates the house but in it, Wonderland as a place. The main principles of urbanism and urban planning surround the point of creating a sense of place. The great spaces in the world have their own air of sensibility, a uniqueness created by stimulating the onlooker with visuals, sounds, and feelings. The way I see Lewis Carroll is that he is a creator of worlds and lands that invoke such senses and feelings to create a sense of place. The nonsensical Wonderland has been re-rendered several times, over and over in art, film, and literary fiction. But in all the manifestations of Alice and her adventures, they have a Carrollian signature. Carroll has, through his words, drawn us to a world that is intangible but wholly recognizable. This, in my academic experience, is difficult to do and a special experience for all who see its success. Carroll’s work has been recognized worldwide, and I contribute to this competition because it not only celebrates his life and work, but also keeps him alive with us.

This dollhouse attempts to capture and celebrate the characters developed by these artists. Tenniel and Blair influence the White Rabbit’s gaudy house, the rabbit hole, and the looking-glass room. See Alice and Dinah asleep, or perhaps awake; dreaming, or already in her adventure? Rabbit, March Hare, Mad Hatter, Cheshire, Jabberwocky, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Humpty Dumpty, Royal Chess Pieces, Talking Flowers, and Caterpillar can be found in the Wonderland dollhouse, and don’t forget poor Bill in the chimney!

Click to view artist statement.

Becky Cho

2014
Major: Planning
Masters

Object

I am an urbanist. I have been educated to appreciate, understand, and analyze the city from a regional scale down to its neighborhoods, blocks, and houses; this piece celebrates the house but in it, Wonderland as a place. The main principles of urbanism and urban planning surround the point of creating a sense of place. The great spaces in the world have their own air of sensibility, a uniqueness created by stimulating the onlooker with visuals, sounds, and feelings. The way I see Lewis Carroll is that he is a creator of worlds and lands that invoke such senses and feelings to create a sense of place. The nonsensical Wonderland has been re-rendered several times, over and over in art, film, and literary fiction. But in all the manifestations of Alice and her adventures, they have a Carrollian signature. Carroll has, through his words, drawn us to a world that is intangible but wholly recognizable. This, in my academic experience, is difficult to do and a special experience for all who see its success. Carroll’s work has been recognized worldwide, and I contribute to this competition because it not only celebrates his life and work, but also keeps him alive with us.

This dollhouse attempts to capture and celebrate the characters developed by these artists. Tenniel and Blair influence the White Rabbit’s gaudy house, the rabbit hole, and the looking-glass room. See Alice and Dinah asleep, or perhaps awake; dreaming, or already in her adventure? Rabbit, March Hare, Mad Hatter, Cheshire, Jabberwocky, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Humpty Dumpty, Royal Chess Pieces, Talking Flowers, and Caterpillar can be found in the Wonderland dollhouse, and don’t forget poor Bill in the chimney!

Click to view artist statement.

Becky Cho

2014
Major: Planning
Masters

Object

I am an urbanist. I have been educated to appreciate, understand, and analyze the city from a regional scale down to its neighborhoods, blocks, and houses; this piece celebrates the house but in it, Wonderland as a place. The main principles of urbanism and urban planning surround the point of creating a sense of place. The great spaces in the world have their own air of sensibility, a uniqueness created by stimulating the onlooker with visuals, sounds, and feelings. The way I see Lewis Carroll is that he is a creator of worlds and lands that invoke such senses and feelings to create a sense of place. The nonsensical Wonderland has been re-rendered several times, over and over in art, film, and literary fiction. But in all the manifestations of Alice and her adventures, they have a Carrollian signature. Carroll has, through his words, drawn us to a world that is intangible but wholly recognizable. This, in my academic experience, is difficult to do and a special experience for all who see its success. Carroll’s work has been recognized worldwide, and I contribute to this competition because it not only celebrates his life and work, but also keeps him alive with us.

This dollhouse attempts to capture and celebrate the characters developed by these artists. Tenniel and Blair influence the White Rabbit’s gaudy house, the rabbit hole, and the looking-glass room. See Alice and Dinah asleep, or perhaps awake; dreaming, or already in her adventure? Rabbit, March Hare, Mad Hatter, Cheshire, Jabberwocky, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Humpty Dumpty, Royal Chess Pieces, Talking Flowers, and Caterpillar can be found in the Wonderland dollhouse, and don’t forget poor Bill in the chimney!

Click to view artist statement.

Debra Hakimi

2013
Major: Architecture
Senior

Infographic Poster

This submission is an architectural analysis of Lewis Carroll’s work since the plot of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass “envisions a built environment that is determined by constantly negotiated interactions between the human body and space” (Houghton 5). In her Masters of Architecture thesis paper titled “Spatializing Alice, en passant,” Adele B. Houghton argues that Lewis Carroll’s work was structured around spatial interactions even if it may not have been Carroll’s original intention. She states that “architecture, en passant, investigates the way perception of measurement systems impacts the social construction of identity. [It] reveals relative measurement systems that are embedded in architectural forms. It proposes that these traditionally ignored methods of measurement significantly influence the way the built environment is occupied and the cultural impact that architecture has on its occupants” (Houghton 3). This submission develops Houghton’s analysis and offers examples of proportional dimensional systems that have been used in nature, art, and architecture to create a harmony of parts. Next, it portrays collaged vignettes from Carroll’s work that embody the idea of proportional shifts. Those vignettes are then translated into architectural design scenarios to create similar experiences that Alice goes through in her journey.

Click to view artist statement.

Styles Akira

2013
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Plaster Sculpture; Certificates of Denyance, Short story

My work here was inspired by the subject of the Vulgar and the Aesthetic, and so I decided to work on the Duchess who is often called ugly as a commentary on physical appearance. Research for the short story benefited greatly from access to the Lewis Carroll collection, and from the retention of additional resources concerning Carroll and his work. The story within a story within a story was a plot device used to add a sense of intricacy to the riddles, word play and number play that takes place in the story, which were also directly inspired by the multiple layers of meaning found in the work of Carroll. The sculpture and short story are companion pieces meant to be consumed together.

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Andrea Christian

2011
Major: Civil Engineering (Environmental)
Senior

Wood burned gourd; Watercolors, acrylics, and stains

My general idea was to create two worlds out of a uniquely shaped gourd: the "real world" and Wonderland. Alice would be "falling" through the rabbit hole in the top sphere of the gourd, and she would fall into the room with the potion and pastry within Wonderland. I created two entrances/exits, to display the different perspectives of Alice as she grows and shrinks, as well as the complexity of Wonderland. On the exterior, I wood-burned several scenes from Alice in Wonderland, and later painted them using watercolors, acrylics, and stains. The exterior of the top half would be uniform and rather dull, with only a system of roots that end up in Wonderland. In the end, I decided not to show Alice falling down the rabbit hole - instead, the audience would "be" Alice. I also used hemp hurd - since I had it leftover from a previous academic project, I thought it could make a vague reference to the allusions to hallucinogenics and other drug use that many readers seem to emphasize. Finally, the top of the gourd can be opened, in order to "experience" Alice's fall into Wonderland. 

Click to view artist statement.
 

Andrea Christian

2011
Major: Civil Engineering (Environmental)
Senior

Wood burned gourd; Watercolors, acrylics, and stains

My general idea was to create two worlds out of a uniquely shaped gourd: the "real world" and Wonderland. Alice would be "falling" through the rabbit hole in the top sphere of the gourd, and she would fall into the room with the potion and pastry within Wonderland. I created two entrances/exits, to display the different perspectives of Alice as she grows and shrinks, as well as the complexity of Wonderland. On the exterior, I wood-burned several scenes from Alice in Wonderland, and later painted them using watercolors, acrylics, and stains. The exterior of the top half would be uniform and rather dull, with only a system of roots that end up in Wonderland. In the end, I decided not to show Alice falling down the rabbit hole - instead, the audience would "be" Alice. I also used hemp hurd - since I had it leftover from a previous academic project, I thought it could make a vague reference to the allusions to hallucinogenics and other drug use that many readers seem to emphasize. Finally, the top of the gourd can be opened, in order to "experience" Alice's fall into Wonderland. 

Click to view artist statement.

Angela Barron
California State University, Dominguez Hills

2011
Major: Special Education
Masters Student

Object

I used Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky” as an example and discussion piece for these two topics. In this lesson I wanted to review parts of speech, emphasize the use of context clues to find meaning of unknown words, and demonstrate that non-sense literature does have meaning. My goal was to have students transfer their knowledge from these discussion items to their personal creative writing. I planned that the group would read the poem, discuss what we believed to be happening and the clues we used to determine our findings. After discussion I would share my own literary and artistic piece to model the activity for the students. We would follow the same discussion points with my pieces as we did with “Jabberwocky.” After our discussion students would begin their work.

Click to view artist statement.

Amy Shayne

2010
Major: Political Science; Psychology
Senior

Art Object

I re-examined the classic book, Through the Looking Glass, and was particularly captivated by the talking flowers. In this scene, Alice has come upon a flowerbed and, in her loneliness she wishes that the flowers could speak so that she would have someone to talk to. She soon discovers that the flowers do in fact talk and have just been waiting for her to speak to them first. The piece I have created is based on the idea of the talking flowers, but rather than having flowers with human-like characteristics, I have taken the shape of a human head and transformed it in to a flowerbed. Like Lewis Carroll's works, I wanted this piece to take the viewer by surprise.  Carroll has shown us time after time that things are not always what they seem

Click to view artist statement.

Lindsay Nelson

2010
Major: Japanese Literature and Cinema
Graduate Student

Art Object

Anahita Dalmia

2018
Major: Narrative Studies, Cinematic Arts, Entreprenership
Sophomore

Art Object

Yesenia Hunter

2018
Major: History
PhD

Art Object

Yersenia Hunter

2018
Major: History
PhD

Art Object