USC Wonderland Award

Styles Akira
The Little Girl - Alice

2012
3rd Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Acrylic on canvas with pages of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There With Ribbon
15. 5" x 20"

Click to view artist statement and read short story.

Styles Akira
Off With His Head - The Queen of Hearts

2012
3rd Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Acrylic on canvas with deck of hearts playing cards
20 x 15.5

Click to view artist statement and read short story.

Styles Akira
Brother’s Keepers – The Brothers Tweedle: Tweedledee and Tweedledum

2012
3rd Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Acrylic on canvas with sand and ribbon
15. 5" x 20"

Click to view artist statement and read short story.

Styles Akira
Pompous Circumstance: Humpty Dumpty

2012
3rd Prize
Major: Communication

Acrylic on canvas with a half-dozen egg shells
15. 5" x 20"

Click to view artist statement and read short story.

Styles Akira

2013
Jabberwock Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Plaster Sculpture

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Styles Akira
Certificate of Denyenance

2013
Jabberwock Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Styles Akira
Certificate of Denyenance
Jabberwock Prize

2013
Major: Communication
PhD Student Certificates of Denyenance

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Styles Akira
Certificate of Denyenance

2013
Jabberwock Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Styles Akira
Certificate of Denyenance

2013
Jabberwock Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Styles Akira
Certificate of Denyenance

2013
Jabberwock Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Styles Akira
Humpty Dumpty's Geneology

2013
Jabberwock Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Styles Akira
Of Senselessness & Non-Sensibility: The House of Scuttlebarry & The Buccaneers And the Land of Wonders & The Lunatic Cavalcade (In Two Scatterbrained Acts) 

2014
2nd Prize
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Packing paper using pencil, ink, acrylic and pastel.

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Styles Akira

2015
Major: Communication
PhD Student

Acrylic on canvas with acrylic on canvas with Baby’s Breath, Dill, Thyme, and Sweet Oregano

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Andrew Woodham

2014
1st Prize
Major: Genetics Molecular Cellular Biology
PhD Student

Dodo with LED lights and invisible ink

Click to view artist statement.

Andrew Woodham

2014
1st Prize
Major: Genetics Molecular Cellular Biology
PhD Student

254 Lewis Carroll photographs comprise this portrait

Click to view artist statement.

Emily Tetri

2005
Major: Animation and Digital Arts
Freshman

Mounted Print
8 1/2" x 16

Tetri’s homage to Lewis Carroll’s masterwork depicts a slightly older Alice advancing through a Gothic archway into Wonderland. Though the artist’s motivation for using this architectural style to frame a moment in Alice’s adventures is unstated, the attention given to certain details reveals a strong familiarity both with the source material and with the visual arts themselves. Alice determinedly steps from the domain of the viewer into this landscape, where, in the distance, playing cards can be seen painting rosebushes. Looming hauntingly overhead from the spandrels are the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit, two key interlocutors in Alice’s journey.

Jessica Druxman

2005
Major: Animation and Digital Arts
Sophomore
 

Digital Image
14.5 " x 11"

In chapter five of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll introduces the enigmatic, mind-reading Caterpillar, who sits on a large mushroom and parries Alice’s inquires into the state of her being. The vaguely Eastern imagery of the hookah-smoking Caterpillar combined with the size-altering effects of the mushroom he sits on has proven popular over the years with people interested in both paranormal and hallucinogenic investigations.

Melony Bronder
Panel 1

2005
Major: Studio Art
Junior

Painting
30 " x 20"

This triptych of oil paintings takes as its inspiration the short “Jabberwocky” poem which is reproduced around the border of the three artworks. In the first panel, Bronder depicts on a hillside the “slithy toves” mentioned in the first line. These were, according to Humpty Dumpty, a combination of badger, lizard, and corkscrew. In the trees above sit agitated borogroves. The middle and right panels depict the dragon-like Jabberwock vanquished and decapitated by the vorpal sword of the nameless young hero. Triptych of oil paintings, with the Jabberwocky poem around the border.

Melony Bronder
Panel 2

2005
Major: Studio Art
Junior

Painting
30 " x 20"

This triptych of oil paintings takes as its inspiration the short “Jabberwocky” poem which is reproduced around the border of the three artworks. In the first panel, Bronder depicts on a hillside the “slithy toves” mentioned in the first line. These were, according to Humpty Dumpty, a combination of badger, lizard, and corkscrew. In the trees above sit agitated borogroves. The middle and right panels depict the dragon-like Jabberwock vanquished and decapitated by the vorpal sword of the nameless young hero. Triptych of oil paintings, with the Jabberwocky poem around the border.

Melony Bronder
Panel 3

2005
Major: Studio Art
Junior

Painting
30 " x 20"

This triptych of oil paintings takes as its inspiration the short “Jabberwocky” poem which is reproduced around the border of the three artworks. In the first panel, Bronder depicts on a hillside the “slithy toves” mentioned in the first line. These were, according to Humpty Dumpty, a combination of badger, lizard, and corkscrew. In the trees above sit agitated borogroves. The middle and right panels depict the dragon-like Jabberwock vanquished and decapitated by the vorpal sword of the nameless young hero. Triptych of oil paintings, with the Jabberwocky poem around the border.

Patrick Shin

2005
Major: School of Pharmacy
Undergraduate

Art, Puzzle Box. Collage on a box. Strips of poetry and illustrations glued on the inside of a painted shoebox.

A mathematics professor at Oxford for many decades, Lewis Carroll delighted in all manner of games (he planned the sequel to his first hugely successful Alice book as an extended metaphor for a game of chess). Shin’s work presents some of the memorable characters from the Alice books against a checkerboard background. These characters offer clues to a complicated series of riddles, similar to those Carroll composed on the large circular kiosks nearby.

Patrick Shin

2005
Major: School of Pharmacy
Undergraduate

Art, Puzzle Box. Collage on a box. Strips of poetry and illustrations glued on the inside of a painted shoebox.

A mathematics professor at Oxford for many decades, Lewis Carroll delighted in all manner of games (he planned the sequel to his first hugely successful Alice book as an extended metaphor for a game of chess). Shin’s work presents some of the memorable characters from the Alice books against a checkerboard background. These characters offer clues to a complicated series of riddles, similar to those Carroll composed on the large circular kiosks nearby.

Patrick Shin

2005
Major: School of Pharmacy
Undergraduate

Art, Puzzle Box. Collage on a box. Strips of poetry and illustrations glued on the inside of a painted shoebox.

A mathematics professor at Oxford for many decades, Lewis Carroll delighted in all manner of games (he planned the sequel to his first hugely successful Alice book as an extended metaphor for a game of chess). Shin’s work presents some of the memorable characters from the Alice books against a checkerboard background. These characters offer clues to a complicated series of riddles, similar to those Carroll composed on the large circular kiosks nearby.

Patrick Shin

2005
Major: School of Pharmacy
Undergraduate

Art, Puzzle Box. Collage on a box. Strips of poetry and illustrations glued on the inside of a painted shoebox.

A mathematics professor at Oxford for many decades, Lewis Carroll delighted in all manner of games (he planned the sequel to his first hugely successful Alice book as an extended metaphor for a game of chess). Shin’s work presents some of the memorable characters from the Alice books against a checkerboard background. These characters offer clues to a complicated series of riddles, similar to those Carroll composed on the large circular kiosks nearby.

Patrick Shin

2005
Major: School of Pharmacy
Undergraduate

Art, Puzzle Box. Collage on a box. Strips of poetry and illustrations glued on the inside of a painted shoebox.

A mathematics professor at Oxford for many decades, Lewis Carroll delighted in all manner of games (he planned the sequel to his first hugely successful Alice book as an extended metaphor for a game of chess). Shin’s work presents some of the memorable characters from the Alice books against a checkerboard background. These characters offer clues to a complicated series of riddles, similar to those Carroll composed on the large circular kiosks nearby.

Patrick Shin

2005
Major: School of Pharmacy
Undergraduate

Art, Puzzle Box. Collage on a box. Strips of poetry and illustrations glued on the inside of a painted shoebox.

A mathematics professor at Oxford for many decades, Lewis Carroll delighted in all manner of games (he planned the sequel to his first hugely successful Alice book as an extended metaphor for a game of chess). Shin’s work presents some of the memorable characters from the Alice books against a checkerboard background. These characters offer clues to a complicated series of riddles, similar to those Carroll composed on the large circular kiosks nearby.

Kelly Combs

2008
Major: Theater
Undergraduate

Collage
32" x 40"

In a riotous collage, Combs extracts the essence of Carroll’s enduring grip on popular consciousness. On the brightly colorful left side, she includes quotes from the Alice stories and other sources on the nature of curiosity; in contrast, the somber grey-tinged right side contains quotes on logic, mixed with the kinds of puzzles with which Carroll was so enamored. The two Alices at the bottom represent the viewer, who yearns to escape reality’s tether through the magic of imagination. The dodo bird overseeing it all is Carroll himself, who understood how crucial it is for one to know the rules of logic before one can break them.

Imran Shafi

2008
Major: Studio Arts
Undergraduate

Pen-and-ink drawing mounted on black board
11 " x 8 1/2"

Drawn by placing his pen on paper and raising it ony when the intricate drawing was complete. Intrigued by Lewis Carroll’s large book collection on such subjects as dreams, fairies, myths, and alternative religions, Shafi reflects in this piece on how the author of the Alice stories must have dwelt on spiritual and nonphysical matters. The result is a delicate work that reveals some of the psychology and creative potential within Carroll’s imagination. In producing this entry, the artist declared that he operated from a purely instinctual, spiritual state akin to how Carroll might have composed his famous works. While Alice Liddell, the Mad Hatter, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Cheshire Cat, the Gryphon, the Caterpillar, the White Rabbit, and Lewis Carroll himself are all clearly identifiable, other characters may emerge on repeat viewings.

Janelle Carbajal

2008
Major: Fine Arts
Senior

Painting

In my painting, I depicted Lewis Carroll literally being tied down by some of his infamous characters. Carroll is painted in dull, muted colors while the characters are bright and animated, attempting to take over him and the entire painting. I'm upset that many people will never know exactly how talented he was in his lifetime because the success of his stories is thought to be his only accomplishment. As an artist, I would hate to be defined by one work of art. I want people to see other sides of me by looking at my other works and other forms of expression.

Myra Yepez

2008
Major: Studio Arts
Sophomore

Oil Painting
24" x 18"

A renowned portraitist, Lewis Carroll took numerous photographs of Alice Liddell—the young girl who inspired him to write the Wonderland stories. Here, Yepez paints an image of a fictional photographic session between the two. Inscribed around the edge of the picture are Alice’s ruminations as Carroll arranges the camera: “… thus he perched upon a tripod, crouched beneath its dusty cover, stretched his hand, enforcing silence—Said, ‘Be motionless, I beg you!’ Mystic, awful was the process.”

Ramon Hurtado

2008
Major: Animation and Digital Arts
Undergraduate Student

Digital Image
9.75" x 15.5"

The interplay of logic and illogic permeates the work of Lewis Carroll. In this digitally created entry, Hurtado illuminates the tension between logic and madness that drives the narrative of the two <i>Alice</i> books. The composition centers on Alice, who confronted by the Caterpillar is unable to answer his questions about who she is. Here she embodies the center of order, reinforcing the idea of the protagonist as the sole agent of logic in <i>Wonderland</i>. Her rigid posture reinforces Victorian conventions of morality, standing firmly in opposition to the madness and moral laxity of the Caterpillar. The painting finds its title in this moment, when Alice's worldview is thrown askew by three simple words: who are you?

Shelley Hacco

2009
Major: Liberal Studies
Graduate Student

Pencil and colored print
16" x 20."

Using colored pencils and colored print, I attempted to wed Hollywood culture with the nonsensical imagery of Lewis Carroll's Royal Garden. Whereas Carroll has his playing cards painting white roses red in compliance with the Red Queen's demands, I set out to show how the puppets of the Hollywood culture paint woment in accordance to its unreal standard of beauty. This drawing features playing cards painting a classically beautiful woman, a rose meant to evoke the era of early American films, onto a billboard looming over a city skyline. The cartoony buildings below, which also serve to summon Carroll's fantasyland, also signify a progression throught time, as perceived from the older to more modern architectural styles. As new building rise from the ground amonght the remains from a time past, the classical standard of beauty remains, as portrayed throught the painted rose perched above the cityscape If you ask me however, this rose, no matter how finely painted, cannot even compare to the natural beauty of the backdrop sky.

Emily Yu
Hatter Meets Magritte

2009
2nd Prize
Major: Fine Arts
Undergraduate

Watercolor
7" x 5"

I began to think of what Alice's Adventures in Wonderland means to me. As I re-read this classic, I noticed that it is about imagined worlds colliding together. I wanted my project to reflect some of my imagined worlds. As 4 painter, I am engrossed in the world of art. Artists are masters of creating imGgined spaces. As 4 result of this thought process, I created five illustrations that could be found in Alice's home. 
ln the five pieces, characters from Wonderland collide with five influential artist of the western world. for instance, fweedle Dee and fweedle Dum meet Andy Warhol and Warhol makes 4 print of their faces. fhe White Rabbit runs into Dali's "Persistence of Memory" painting while the Queen of ffearts poses of Picasso. fhe Mad ffatter also poses for Magritte and the red card takes painting lessons from Jackson Pollock. I think of this project as a collision and fusion of my worlds, the real and imagined.

Emily Yu
Queen of Hearts Meets Picasso

2009
2nd Prize
Major: Fine Arts
Undergraduate

Watercolor
7" x 5"

I began to think of what Alice's Adventures in Wonderland means to me. As I re-read this classic, I noticed that it is about imagined worlds colliding together. I wanted my project to reflect some of my imagined worlds. As 4 painter, I am engrossed in the world of art. Artists are masters of creating imGgined spaces. As 4 result of this thought process, I created five illustrations that could be found in Alice's home. 
ln the five pieces, characters from Wonderland collide with five influential artist of the western world. for instance, fweedle Dee and fweedle Dum meet Andy Warhol and Warhol makes 4 print of their faces. fhe White Rabbit runs into Dali's "Persistence of Memory" painting while the Queen of ffearts poses of Picasso. fhe Mad ffatter also poses for Magritte and the red card takes painting lessons from Jackson Pollock. I think of this project as a collision and fusion of my worlds, the real and imagined.

Emily Yu
Tweedlees Meet Warhol

2009
2nd Prize
Major: Fine Arts
Undergraduate

Watercolor
 7" x 5"

I began to think of what Alice's Adventures in Wonderland means to me. As I re-read this classic, I noticed that it is about imagined worlds colliding together. I wanted my project to reflect some of my imagined worlds. As 4 painter, I am engrossed in the world of art. Artists are masters of creating imGgined spaces. As 4 result of this thought process, I created five illustrations that could be found in Alice's home. 
ln the five pieces, characters from Wonderland collide with five influential artist of the western world. for instance, fweedle Dee and fweedle Dum meet Andy Warhol and Warhol makes 4 print of their faces. fhe White Rabbit runs into Dali's "Persistence of Memory" painting while the Queen of ffearts poses of Picasso. fhe Mad ffatter also poses for Magritte and the red card takes painting lessons from Jackson Pollock. I think of this project as a collision and fusion of my worlds, the real and imagined.

Emily Yu
Card Meets Pollock

2009
2nd Prize
Major: Fine Arts
Undergraduate

Watercolor, 7" x 5"

I began to think of what Alice's Adventures in Wonderland means to me. As I re-read this classic, I noticed that it is about imagined worlds colliding together. I wanted my project to reflect some of my imagined worlds. As 4 painter, I am engrossed in the world of art. Artists are masters of creating imGgined spaces. As 4 result of this thought process, I created five illustrations that could be found in Alice's home. 
ln the five pieces, characters from Wonderland collide with five influential artist of the western world. for instance, fweedle Dee and fweedle Dum meet Andy Warhol and Warhol makes 4 print of their faces. fhe White Rabbit runs into Dali's "Persistence of Memory" painting while the Queen of ffearts poses of Picasso. fhe Mad ffatter also poses for Magritte and the red card takes painting lessons from Jackson Pollock. I think of this project as a collision and fusion of my worlds, the real and imagined.

Emily Yu
White Rabbit Meets Dali

2009
2nd Prize
Major: Fine Arts
Undergraduate

Watercolor
5" x 7"

I began to think of what Alice's Adventures in Wonderland means to me. As I re-read this classic, I noticed that it is about imagined worlds colliding together. I wanted my project to reflect some of my imagined worlds. As 4 painter, I am engrossed in the world of art. Artists are masters of creating imGgined spaces. As 4 result of this thought process, I created five illustrations that could be found in Alice's home. 
ln the five pieces, characters from Wonderland collide with five influential artist of the western world. for instance, fweedle Dee and fweedle Dum meet Andy Warhol and Warhol makes 4 print of their faces. fhe White Rabbit runs into Dali's "Persistence of Memory" painting while the Queen of ffearts poses of Picasso. fhe Mad ffatter also poses for Magritte and the red card takes painting lessons from Jackson Pollock. I think of this project as a collision and fusion of my worlds, the real and imagined.

Emily Yin Mao
2009

Oil Pastel on Paper
24 " x 18”

 My inspiration for this piece stems from the word “wonderland.”  In addition to depicting Carroll’s characters, I included my own interpretations of the word “wonderland” as an essence of the human mind through the mixture of vibrant colors, free-flowing lines, and flourishing forms. My artwork reflects a mesmerizing dwelling beyond the constraints of time and space, where illusions and reality come together in harmony. As a result, this creation is a combination of Carroll’s witty narrative and a mixture of my own imagination and sense of fantasy.

Janelle Carbajal

2009
Major: Fine Arts
Undergraduate

Art

Upon reading the actual courtroom scene, one of the most obvious and striking aspects is the Queen of Hearts, especially with her almost constantly declaring "off with their heads!" While reason would lead anyone to realize that decapitation is hardly ever the punishment fit for the crime, especially in Alice's case, one could draw a great many connections between it and Dodgson's experiences. With this request for decapitation, one could assume that Dodgson was writing about his own experiences, experiences fraught with repeated and inflammatory requests that he remove his "head" as Dodgson and reveal his true self as Carroll. This of course is on a cursory look at the scene, one which, upon further consideration, reveals itself to be closely linked to this notion of identity. This idea can also be seen when Alice first arrives into the courtroom and watches as the jurors write down their own names, out of a "fear [that] they should forget them before the end of the trial" (Carroll, 111). To this, Alice asserts that they should instead refer to themselves as "stupid things," a moniker fitting of this idiotic practice (Carroll, 111). Upon reading this, it could be possible to deduce that Dodgson was himself referring to the stupidity surrounding his admission of being Carroll, in that a name should have little bearing on one's practice of a certain vocation. For these jurors, their names in no way impact their ability to interpret/practice law, so why should Carroll's "real" identity impact how the book is read?

Julia Kim

2009
Major: Architecture
Undergraduate

Mixed Media Drawing: Colored Pencil, Soft Pastel

The mixed media drawing done in colored pencil and soft pastel was inspired by the universally known scene in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland between Alice and the caterpillar. With a West coast g-funk twist, this drawing features Snoop Dogg as the hookah smoking caterpillar who questions Alice's identity. 

Kathleen Johnson

2009

Art

Nicole Ferguson

2009

Art

Sean Manning

2009
Major: Cinema & Television: Animation and Digital Arts
Undergraduate Student

Digital Art

Digital Art Artists have depicted the Queen in a variety of forms, from an actual 2-Dimensional being, to an old hag who's external features match the conditions of her less-than-attractive personality. This particular rendition aims to portray the Queen in a more ambiguous light. She appears elegant in posture and dress, but her cold expression betrays her true cruel nature. She waits patiently for someone brave enough to challenge her to a croquet match. It might be wise however, to let the Queen win...

Kelly Combs

2009
3rd Prize
Major: Theater
Undergraduate

Book Art

Why an alphabet book? Maybe because it spoke to Carroll’s ability to make simplicity profound. Why give each poem a moral? Carroll said, “Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.” His devotion to logic, even the fantastical logic of Wonderland, is an essential component of his work. Why mirror writing? Because . . . looking glass.

Click to view artist statement.

Claudia Otten

2010
Major: Architecture
Freshman

Picture Box

In my piece I aimed to apply the same reverence I felt white visiting the Lewis Carroll Collection collection to ideas inspired by Carroll's actual work. At first glance, the piece is a depiction of Alice's trek through Wonderland and her passageway through several stages, each holding wild encounters with different characters. I explored the same issues of dimensionality that was the basis of Alice's journey.

Click to view artist statement.

Wendy Campbell
Twinkling Bat

2010
Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Masters Student

Book Art and Essay

In Gilmore's (1995) Alice in Quantum/and: An Allegory of Quantum Physics, he draws a connection between Schrodinger's Cat and Carroll's Cheshire Cat. Gilmore's Alice asks of her 'Quantum Mechanic' guide: "How is it that I was able to make an observation and fix the condition of the Cat if it was not able to do it for itself? What is it that decides when an observation is actually made and who is able to make one?" (p. 46). The mechanic sends Alice offtowards the Copenhagen school to figure out this problem of measurement, and along the way she encounters Schrodinger's Cat sitting in a tree grinning down at her as she stops to consider which of two paths she must take. Alice states: "I have to decide between these two paths" (p. 49), and the Cat responds: "Now that is where you are wrong... You do not have to decide, you can take all the paths" (p. 49).

Click to view other images and essay.

Wendy Campbell
Schrodinger's Cheshire Cat

2010
Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Masters Student

Book Art and Essay

In Gilmore's (1995) Alice in Quantum/and: An Allegory of Quantum Physics, he draws a connection between Schrodinger's Cat and Carroll's Cheshire Cat. Gilmore's Alice asks of her 'Quantum Mechanic' guide: "How is it that I was able to make an observation and fix the condition of the Cat if it was not able to do it for itself? What is it that decides when an observation is actually made and who is able to make one?" (p. 46). The mechanic sends Alice offtowards the Copenhagen school to figure out this problem of measurement, and along the way she encounters Schrodinger's Cat sitting in a tree grinning down at her as she stops to consider which of two paths she must take. Alice states: "I have to decide between these two paths" (p. 49), and the Cat responds: "Now that is where you are wrong... You do not have to decide, you can take all the paths" (p. 49).

Click to view other images and essay.

Wendy Campbell
Logical Nonsense & Ordered Chaos

2010
Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
Masters Student

Book Art and Essay

In Gilmore's (1995) Alice in Quantum/and: An Allegory of Quantum Physics, he draws a connection between Schrodinger's Cat and Carroll's Cheshire Cat. Gilmore's Alice asks of her 'Quantum Mechanic' guide: "How is it that I was able to make an observation and fix the condition of the Cat if it was not able to do it for itself? What is it that decides when an observation is actually made and who is able to make one?" (p. 46). The mechanic sends Alice offtowards the Copenhagen school to figure out this problem of measurement, and along the way she encounters Schrodinger's Cat sitting in a tree grinning down at her as she stops to consider which of two paths she must take. Alice states: "I have to decide between these two paths" (p. 49), and the Cat responds: "Now that is where you are wrong... You do not have to decide, you can take all the paths" (p. 49).

Click to view other images and essay.

Gloria Dominez

2010
Major: Fine Arts
Senior

Digital Art

"There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind..."

The library contained it all - but it needed something modern, something aesthetically beautiful, but original. I could not take from it without contributing to it. I put my mind to work as to what I could add: a digital illustration of Alice. Using only Tenniel's She Stood Up, I began to digitally interpret Alice's spirit of youth, whimsy, and non-sense using only the latest and most popular graphic software:  Photoshop CS4 and Illustrator CS4. In true Carroll humor, I exaggerated the most recalling aspects of her character: the long blond hair and the light blue "Alice dress." The hair is carefully designed to hide many visual hints at Wonderland: strands of hair that end in card suits, flowers that rise like the caterpillar's smoke, the White Rabbit's ears above her head, etc. Altering  Tenniel's pose was a challenge, as was having it blend well with modern vector graphics. And I worked,  worked,  worked until I knew I captured the essence of Alice. A young girl caught in the drift of the imagination only youth could create, walking and sleeping consistently through the drift of a consuming dreamscape, wondering curiously and curiouserly within the gust of Wonderland.

Click to view artist statement.

Myra Yepez

2010
Major: Fine Arts
Senior

Oil Painting
4' x 3 '

...I decided to make a painted portrait of him. So for my final year here, I made something that honors the author, the poet, the mathematician, the photographer, and all those other titles that could be attributed to him. I made a beautiful oil painting in the style of the time that Carroll lived (which is a mix between romanticism and realism). Despite the fact that there are many painted portraits of his contemporaries, I've only ever seen a few photographs of Carroll. It was only fair that he too, should be immortalized on canvas...

Click to view artist statement.

Tiffany Jane-Marie Pereira

2010
Major: Environmental Studies
Junior

Drawing

rawing from the Hague Illustrations I modeled a forest reminiscent of the dead wasteland seen in the new Alice in Wonderland Film (curiously enough, I had planned this well before I saw the movie). An innocent Alice is left puzzled after having the conversation with the Cheshire Cat and he has just told her "then it doesn't matter which way you walk." 

Today's society faces the challenge of going down a path leading to the environmental destruction. Our decisions will affect the innocent future generations that will have to live with the consequences of those decisions. As a more solemn reminder of the destruction such decisions will cause the shadow of the Mad Hatter looms overhead in the gloom of a toxic night sky. As many know, Lewis Carroll based the Mad Hatter on the Men of his time, driven literally mad by the noxious chemical mercury used in the manufacturing of their hats.

Click to view artist statement.

William Sullivan Brown

2010

Colored pencil

Anya Levy
California Institute of the Arts

2011
Major: Painting and Creative Writing
Undergraduate Student

Drawing

In this series of paintings I wish to illustrate an exploration of the ways in which these symbols, originally established by Lewis Carroll to demonstrate whimsy and the nonsensical, have evolved to symbolize drug references and the psychedelic. The characters in the paintings are manifestations of a new generation of individuals, quixotically drawn to materializing the conceptual and creating a tangible world from the imaginary through intoxication and conforming to impossible ideals.

Click to view artist statement.

Blair Strong

2012
Major: Communication
Junior

Digital Composition

“Perpetual Wonder,” my photographic composite piece, highlights some of the less frequently portrayed stories from Alice such as: Alice arguing with Pigeon (her neck stretched to the clouds), the Mad Hatter’s watch indicating months, and Alice shrinking and growing as she testifies before the Queen of Hearts. I want the piece to communicate the colorful dream-like world that I believe Carroll intended. Carroll’s work as a photographer is often overlooked, so I wanted to capture this vision photographically. He photographed young women in unconventional portrait environments, so I wanted to integrate the models in unconventional wooded locations. Besides unique locations, Carroll uses hidden messages that beg his audience think. I paid great attention to the quality of my work and included small details in the piece that the viewer must look very closely to find. Additionally, Carroll’s work frequently plays with time so I sought to void the natural human timeline by simultaneously portraying several separate events. I decided to communicate  the ideas in a single piece, rather than a series.

Click to view artist statement.

Yoon Ji Nam

2011

Color Pencil, Ink Pen, Color marker on paper
11 " x 14"

There are diverse versions of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in wonderland. Along with the original illustration, most versions emphasize Alice’s dynamic journey to find the logic and reasoning with interesting characters, and imaginary world with lots of humor and seriousness. The first word that came to my mind when I read diverse versions of the story and watched the movie is “Enchanted World.”

Instead of illustrating major characters or main scenes in the story, I wanted to deliver the overall atmosphere of the story. I wanted to capture the image of the entire story into a single art piece. By using various and creative patterns in the background, I tried to deliver fantastic imaginary world and many strange situations that Alice face and go through during her journey in abstract way yet strong. While I was using background pattern to symbolize complex and creative places and time changes in the story, I used color for certain landscape elements and Alice to represent my first impression about the story when I was a child. When I was a child, I thought the story is just showing one little girl’s interesting journey to the enchanted world where I hoped to visit. As a result, my art piece illustrates both adult’s and children’s perspectives towards the story while creating my own fantasy about the Wonderland.

Abigail Siniscal
Art Center College of Design

2012
Major: Fine Art
Sophomore

Original mixed media illustration using pen and ink, chalk pastel, and gouache paint.

With this piece I hoped to create a strong, graphic image that would embody the surrealist and absurdist poetic and metaphoric qualities that encompasses the work of author Lewis Carroll. “Off with her head!” those four vivid words shouted by an antagonistic Queen in Carroll’s Wonderland novels stuck with me and emphasized that phantasmagoric reality that existed only inside of Alice’s imagination.

Aislinn Glennon

2012
Major: Fine Arts
Junior

Art

This vivid display of mushrooms ventures into the timeless world of a ludacris Hatter, grinning cat, and singing Dormouse known as Carroll's Wonderland where the impossible transforms into reality. The collage of watercolor-based mushrooms invites the viewer to catch a glimpse of Carroll's mysterious and intriguing imagination that runs wild backed by a sense of logic and creativity to form a dual tonality between the playfulness that is Carroll's Alice and the serious dangers of a madcap imagination as presented in his stories of Wonderland.

Kowoon Jung
Art Center College of Design

2012
Major: Illustration
Senior

Art

I wanted to create an illustration that has sort of freshness, not typical illustration such as tea party or Alice being bigger than a house. So I drew Alice and she is jumping into the teacup which represents that she is always experiencing new whimsical worlds by passing through special elements.

Nicholas Brown [Madison Cook]

2012
Major: Political Science
Junior

Fiction, Art, Music

Unlike Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), this artist uses a male protagonist—Atom—who slips through black holes whilst encountering riddling animals who keep time and chess pieces who quarrel endlessly. Drawing upon Carroll’s reference in the first page of Alice stating books without pictures and conversations are no fun—Atom incorporates photographs, original watercolors, snake-shaped poems, music, lyrics and dialogue...

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Nicholas Brown

2012
Major: Political Science
Junior

Fiction, Art, Music

Unlike Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), this artist uses a male protagonist—Atom—who slips through black holes whilst encountering riddling animals who keep time and chess pieces who quarrel endlessly. Drawing upon Carroll’s reference in the first page of Alice stating books without pictures and conversations are no fun—Atom incorporates photographs, original watercolors, snake-shaped poems, music, lyrics and dialogue...

Click to view artist statement and short story.

Xia Jenny Cao
Design Art Center College of Design
 

Xia Jenny Cao
2012
Major: Illustration Design
Sophomore

Drawing

In my drawing, I kept the characters in within their form in reality because I
wanted to show how they could be perceived in real life. I drew Alice sleeping and
characters of Wonderland dancing around her face. I wanted to show that Alice’s world is
quiet, and this other world within her mind is where the adventure happens. Some
sections of my drawing are very detailed while others are very loose. All of my characters
are drawn in a different style because that is my perception of a dream. A dream is a
collage of images stored in our memory which manifests when we’re asleep.

Jiedi Chen

2013
Major: Fine Arts
Sophomore

Art

The epic journey of Alice begins when she follows the white rabbit "Down the Rabbit-Hole". I wanted to capture the moment when Alice first catches the glimpse of wonderland, but yet include other elements in the book as well. The composition I came up with composes of the inside of the hole and the outside; Alice is looking in, ready to go, from the normal-looking but still sweet "real" world, and the inside is an erratic mess of the elements from Alice in Wonderland. I wanted the hole to resemble a hole without being too literal and boring; I ended up using the Cheshire Cat's slim body to frame a "hole" for the rabbit to leap through, and other elements such as the cards, the caterpillar, and the queen's dress also helps to compose the frame of the hole. The outside is separated from the inside also by the color, the outside, including Alice, being much lighter than the more heavy-colored inside.

Click to view artist statement.
 

Cal Tabuena-Froili

2013
Major: Print and Digital Journalism
Senior

Art

Cal Tabuena-Froili 2013
Major: Print and Digital Journalism
Senior

Lewis Carroll was born on January 27th, 1832. This is the core of my art piece “The Great Many Unbirthdays of Lewis Carroll.”

The paper sculpture is an infographic—a chart, map or illustration that serves enlightenment through entertainment and engagement—and it’s what I am going to school to make. All infographics are based in fact and use the content or context of the point it’s making to give that fact some life.

This is why my infographic doesn’t look like the others; I took off my data-hat and donned the fun-hat something at which Carroll, being a mathematician and a witty artist, was an expert.

As light and whimsical a piece of art appears, though, there is information and logic woven through my piece if one takes the time to look for it. This is something I picked up reading Carroll.

I tried my best to have fun interpreting a fact so hard as a date. It almost reads as a puzzle, making the interested reader hunt for the missing date and rewarding the trivia nerd or Wonderland fanatic with his actual birthdate.

As a journalist-in-training, I constantly work to clarify. Sending my reader through whimsical games goes against everything I’ve learned. So for me to step outside that role as edifier and make a semi-intellectual-challenging piece of art (using Carroll’s tools of play and backwards logic) was difficult. But I’m more than satisfied with the piece.

The days are charted accurately, as I researched the calendar year (1832) and gridded the candles exactly where they would have fallen on the months. (It turns out Carroll was born on a Friday).

SPOILER ALERT: Each month corresponds to a chapter in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Look closely and one sees: the rabbit hole replacing Carroll’s birth date in January; the mouse climbing from Alice’s February tears; an owl running in March’s caucus race; a giant Alice in April; the caterpillar in May; the grin of a Cheshire Cat in June; a well-stocked July tea party; a flamingo leg and hedgehog croquet set in August; the shell of the Mock Turtle in September; a vain and fearful lobster in October; a gavel and heart-dotted candles in November; and finally, in December, a scatter of leaves and extinguished candles (hinting at the eventual twist that this was all just a dream).

Even the pictures in each month’s letter frame correspond to each chapter. But I’ll leave further explication to the Carroll diehards.

The medium and color are important. With the nature of literature (and especially with Carroll’s stories), straight black text—once read and translated as images in the brain—jumps off the page.

The ink on the base sheet echoes the haphazard tumble through the rabbit hole.

Emily McPeek

2013  
Major: Fine Arts
Junior

Painting

Click to view artist statement.

Emily Warren

2013
Major: East Asian Languages and Cultures
Senior

Collage

Alice is not only moving through illustrations of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — she is traveling through some of the most famous pieces of Japanese art. Many of these pictures were adapted from ukiyo-e, which translates as “pictures of the floating world.” Artists created these woodblock prints to illustrate the exclusive districts of artisans and courtesans that city-dwellers would escape to during the Edo period (1603-1868). These woodblock prints were created by layering different blocks for each color. To replicate this effect, I used pen and ink and Copic markers (the artistic markers used by modern manga artists) and then layered the paper so that all the episodes would interlock, separate, but harmonious and toward a a single vision like those driving journey questions in the book.

Click to view artist statement.

Emily Weiss

2013
Major: Fine Arts
Freshman

Pen and ink
17 " x 14"

My submission is an embellished portrait of Alice Liddell, the very real little girl who inspired the audaciously curious nature of Carroll’s fictional heroine, Alice in Wonderland. The portrait references a photograph that Carroll himself took of Liddell in 1860 when she was 7 years old, part of a collection of Carroll’s photographic work I found while conducting my research. His photography, especially the portraiture, is described as “a gentle but profound comment on fleeting moments of precious time of transience between reality and dreams of childhood”, a statement which largely influenced the relationship of realistic aspects in my submission with the more fantastical framework and illustrative, graphic imagery. 

Click to view artist statement.

Tara Assi
Image 1

2013
Chemical Engineering-Polymers/Materials
Sophomore

Drawing

Click to view artist statement.

Tara Assi
Image 2

2013
Chemical Engineering-Polymers/Materials
Sophomore

Drawing

Click to view artist statement.

Sarah Ledesma
Panel 1

2013
Major: Communication Management
Master's Degree

Graphic Novel

The Wonderland Award inspired me to create a graphic novel inspired by famous quotes of Lewis Carroll. The quotes and works of Carroll are philosophical and introspective in nature. I find myself turning back to his works time and time again and finding their meaning universal. With this project I chose to portray myself as Alice on a journey of self-reflection using the direct quotes from Carroll’s masterpiece.

Click to view artist statement.

Sarah Ledesma
Panel 2

2013
Major: Communication Management
Master's Degree

Graphic Novel

The Wonderland Award inspired me to create a graphic novel inspired by famous quotes of Lewis Carroll. The quotes and works of Carroll are philosophical and introspective in nature. I find myself turning back to his works time and time again and finding their meaning universal. With this project I chose to portray myself as Alice on a journey of self-reflection using the direct quotes from Carroll’s masterpiece.

Click to view artist statement.

Sarah Ledesma
Panel 1

2013
Major: Communication Management
Master's Degree

Graphic Novel

The Wonderland Award inspired me to create a graphic novel inspired by famous quotes of Lewis Carroll. The quotes and works of Carroll are philosophical and introspective in nature. I find myself turning back to his works time and time again and finding their meaning universal. With this project I chose to portray myself as Alice on a journey of self-reflection using the direct quotes from Carroll’s masterpiece.

Click to view artist statement.

Sarah Ledesma

Panel 4

2013
Major: Communication Management
Master's Degree

Graphic Novel

The Wonderland Award inspired me to create a graphic novel inspired by famous quotes of Lewis Carroll. The quotes and works of Carroll are philosophical and introspective in nature. I find myself turning back to his works time and time again and finding their meaning universal. With this project I chose to portray myself as Alice on a journey of self-reflection using the direct quotes from Carroll’s masterpiece.

Click to view artist statement.

Sarah Ledesma
Panel 5

2013
Major: Communication Management
Master's Degree

Graphic Novel

The Wonderland Award inspired me to create a graphic novel inspired by famous quotes of Lewis Carroll. The quotes and works of Carroll are philosophical and introspective in nature. I find myself turning back to his works time and time again and finding their meaning universal. With this project I chose to portray myself as Alice on a journey of self-reflection using the direct quotes from Carroll’s masterpiece.

Click to view artist statement.

Sarah Ledesma
Panel 6

2013
Major: Communication Management
Master's Degree

Graphic Novel

The Wonderland Award inspired me to create a graphic novel inspired by famous quotes of Lewis Carroll. The quotes and works of Carroll are philosophical and introspective in nature. I find myself turning back to his works time and time again and finding their meaning universal. With this project I chose to portray myself as Alice on a journey of self-reflection using the direct quotes from Carroll’s masterpiece.

Click to view artist statement.

Sarah Ledesma
Panel 7

2013
Major: Communication Management
Master's Degree

Graphic Novel

The Wonderland Award inspired me to create a graphic novel inspired by famous quotes of Lewis Carroll. The quotes and works of Carroll are philosophical and introspective in nature. I find myself turning back to his works time and time again and finding their meaning universal. With this project I chose to portray myself as Alice on a journey of self-reflection using the direct quotes from Carroll’s masterpiece.

Click to view artist statement.

Carmen Tan

2014
Major: Fine Arts
Sophomore

Art

When I think of Wonderland, I think of a land of dreams, fantasies, a place where anything and everything can happen. I dream of a land so beautiful and filled with desire that it clutches one as he stands, rooting him to the land itself. A land filled with magical and extraordinary creatures that do the most impossible things, as well as powerful and potent plants/wildlife that seem to come alive at a finger's touch. Creatures, people, and plants are one entity, sharing all of Wonderland's magical properties. I chose to illustrate the limitless possibilities of this land, replete with mushrooms, caterpillars, rabbits, and more. It is the land Alice falls in love with and finds so much treachery and deceit. It's beautiful colors tempt, beckon to the visitor until he is trapped within his mind, his dreams, within Wonderland. Wonderland is his mind and his mind is wonderland, a part of all and a part of none, interwoven like threads of a tapestry.

Niree Kodaverdian

2014
Major: Economics
PhD Student

Pen and ink drawing

Click to view artist statement.

Niree Kodaverdian
Alice among the Rats, Bats, Cats, and Gnats

2014
Major: Economics PhD Student

Pen and ink drawing

Click to view artist statement.

Niree Kodaverdian
Alice's Hour down the Checker Brick Road

2014
Major: Economics
PhD Student

Pen and ink drawing

Click to view artist statement.

Niree Kodaverdian
The Flowers are Always Colorfuller on the Other Side

2014
Major: Economics
PhD Student

Pen and ink drawing

Click to view artist statement.

Saralynn Vargas

2014
Major: Architecture
Sophomore

Art

Inspired by the whimsical and fantastical elements in Lewis Carroll’s work, Vargas utilizes bright watercolors and cartoon-like inked anthropomorphism to emphasize the interplay of reality and surreality present in Alice’s adventure through Wonderland.

Soodam Lee

2014
Major: Fine Arts, Communication Design
Junior

Digital Art
17" x 16"

Cynthia Macias
Einstein

2011
Major: International Relations
Master's Degree

Digital Poster

nd so, came my idea for an advertising campaign. I wanted to invite creative minds to come to a place where society did not limit them. A place where they weren't forced to wear socially conventional outfits. A place where they weren't taught to memorize school lessons, and instead where taught to question themselves and conventions. A place where time doesn't limit them. I wanted to stress how creatively liberating Wonderland was.

Click to view artist statement.

Cynthia Macias
Coco Chanel

2011
Major: International Relations
Master's Degree

Digital Poster

And so, came my idea for an advertising campaign. I wanted to invite creative minds to come to a place where society did not limit them. A place where they weren't forced to wear socially conventional outfits. A place where they weren't taught to memorize school lessons, and instead where taught to question themselves and conventions. A place where time doesn't limit them. I wanted to stress how creatively liberating Wonderland was.

Click to view artist statement.

Cynthia Macias
Wright  Brothers

2011
Major: International Relations
Master's Degree

Digital Poster

And so, came my idea for an advertising campaign. I wanted to invite creative minds to come to a place where society did not limit them. A place where they weren't forced to wear socially conventional outfits. A place where they weren't taught to memorize school lessons, and instead where taught to question themselves and conventions. A place where time doesn't limit them.  I wanted to stress how creatively liberating Wonderland was.

Click to view artist statement.

Timothy Ho

2009
Major: Architecture
Undergraduate

Digital Image, Mixed Media Collage
10" x 41"

Click to view artist statement.

Shelly Hacco
2009
Major: Liberal Studies
Graduate Student

Colored pencils and colored print.
16" x 20."

Using colored pencils and colored print, I attempted to wed Hollywood culture with the nonsensical imagery of Lewis Carroll's Royal Garden. Whereas Carroll has his playing cards painting white roses red in compliance with the Red Queen's demands, I set out to show how the puppets of the Hollywood culture paint woment in accordance to its unreal standard of beauty. This drawing features playing cards painting a classically beautiful woman, a rose meant to evoke the era of early American films, onto a billboard looming over a city skyline. The cartoony buildings below, which also serve to summon Carroll's fantasyland, also signify a progression throught time, as perceived from the older to more modern architectural styles. As new building rise from the ground amonght the remains from a time past, the classical standard of beauty remains, as portrayed throught the painted rose perched above the cityscape If you ask me however, this rose, no matter how finely painted, cannot even compare to the natural beauty of the backdrop sky.

Click to view artist statement.

Ariana Papademetropoulos
California Institute of the Arts

2012
Major: Art
Senior

Painting 

I have always been intrigued by his use of mirrors to parallel our own reality. What lies
on the other side is a place where the impossible becomes possible and the rules of physics and time and space no longer exist. I have created two oil paintings in which my version of Alice is looking through the Looking Glass at herself in a parallel world, where she is crowed with horns wearing a extravagant butterfly cape. I chose to use two canvases instead of one in hope that the interaction between the two paintings would make the paintings seem more real, as the figures in the paintings were looking at one another. In the end of the book, Alice speculates whether our life is just a dream, and how she herself might just be a figment of the Red Kings imagination. I wanted to create a mysterious situation so the viewer looking at the paintings wouldnʼt know exactly what was going on. Who is looking at who? Are they reflections, or two different girls? Which
one is real, the left girl or the right? This work entitled “The Looking Glass” reflects two
different worlds interacting as Alice peeks into the Looking Glass, seeing herself in
another form, or seeing herself as she actually is.

Ariana Papademetropoulos
California Institute of the Arts

2012
Major: Art
Senior

Painting 

I have always been intrigued by his use of mirrors to parallel our own reality. What lies on the other side is a place where the impossible becomes possible and the rules of physics and time and space no longer exist. I have created two oil paintings in which my version of Alice is looking through the Looking Glass at herself in a parallel world, where she is crowed with horns wearing a extravagant butterfly cape. I chose to use two canvases instead of one in hope that the interaction between the two paintings would make the paintings seem more real, as the figures in the paintings were looking at one another. In the end of the book, Alice speculates whether our life is just a dream, and how she herself might just be a figment of the Red Kings imagination. I wanted to create a mysterious situation so the viewer looking at the paintings wouldnʼt know exactly what was going on. Who is looking at who? Are they reflections, or two different girls? Which one is real, the left girl or the right? This work entitled “The Looking Glass” reflects two different worlds interacting as Alice peeks into the Looking Glass, seeing herself in another form, or seeing herself as she actually is.

Juliete DeVette

2015
Major: Film and Television, Production
Junior

Digital, Ink, Spray Paint, on canvas
24" x 24"

Who were the people surrounding the life of Charles Lutwidge Dogson? To whom did the famous author, mathematician, and photographer have the privilege of calling his closest friends? Who was he with in his last hours, and how was he viewed by his loved ones and himself? My piece is one that seeks to depict the comfort and pain that Dodgson found in the characters he created in his stories. It is framed upon the well-known painting by Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper and includes twele of his most loved characters in an organized puzzle.

I compiled the illustrations of each of the twelve characters, then digitally manipulated them on top of an image of The Last Supper to make the composition.  After this, I printed the digital file in ten pages which I then combined on the top of a canvas and used as reference. After it was inked in with detail and several pens
later, the spray paint was applied with a sense of liberality.    

As Carroll says, “Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s a great puzzle!”

Click to view artist statement.

Joyce Lee
Art Center College of Design, Pasadena

2012
Major: Illustration, Entertainment Design
Sophomore

Digital Art

I was inspired by Lewis Carrollʼs “A Mad Tea-Party” chapter of the book of Aliceʼs Adventure in Wonderland. I wanted to capture the moment when the riddles and stories are exchanged with Alice. Especially when Alice is trying to understand what Mad Hatter and the March Hare talking about, which makes no sense to Alice. Furthermore, she is fascinated by Hatterʼs pocket watch which told no current time, but instead the month and the year. In my digital painting, other than the scene of the tea party, I wanted to show the whimsical aspect of Wonderland which is portrayed throughout the book. The wonderland, which can be frightening yet beautiful and so intriguing.

Scott Newman
Wonderland Club - Alice

2009
Major: Professional Writing
Graduate Student

Poster
17  x 11

The included posters are inspired by Lewis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland, and express a slightly grittier, urban aesthetic with regards to the work.  In this interpretation, Alice is a wandering musician playing the rock club circuit, while the Queen of Hearts is a burlesque performerwho performs a stage show at a club called The White Rabbit.  These are loose interpretations, inspired by the core of the characters created by Carol.  These characters have been updated and roughed up just enough create something all together different, yet still true to the core of Carol’s original creations.The format of a advertorial poster allows for multiple interpretations of the character’s narrative yet is meant to inspire across the board a sort of sarcastic and mischievous read of these updated characters.  The poster art genre is appropriate even more so in this case since it lends itself to illustration and narrative, two characteristics which have naturally driven Carol’s literary works.

Scott Newman
White Rabbit - Red Queen

2009
Major: Professional Writing
Graduate Student

Poster
17  x 11

The included posters are inspired by Lewis Carol’s Alice in Wonderland, and express a slightly grittier, urban aesthetic with regards to the work.  In this interpretation, Alice is a wandering musician playing the rock club circuit, while the Queen of Hearts is a burlesque performerwho performs a stage show at a club called The White Rabbit.  These are loose interpretations, inspired by the core of the characters created by Carol.  These characters have been updated and roughed up just enough create something all together different, yet still true to the core of Carol’s original creations.The format of a advertorial poster allows for multiple interpretations of the character’s narrative yet is meant to inspire across the board a sort of sarcastic and mischievous read of these updated characters.  The poster art genre is appropriate even more so in this case since it lends itself to illustration and narrative, two characteristics which have naturally driven Carol’s literary works.

Carmen Tan

2014
Major: Fine Arts
Sophomore

Art

When I think of Wonderland, I think of a land of dreams, fantasies, a place where anything and everything can happen. I dream of a land so beautiful and filled with desire that it clutches one as he stands, rooting him to the land itself. A land filled with magical and extraordinary creatures that do the most impossible things, as well as powerful and potent plants/wildlife that seem to come alive at a finger's touch. Creatures, people, and plants are one entity, sharing all of Wonderland's magical properties. I chose to illustrate the limitless possibilities of this land, replete with mushrooms, caterpillars, rabbits, and more. It is the land Alice falls in love with and finds so much treachery and deceit. It's beautiful colors tempt, beckon to the visitor until he is trapped within his mind, his dreams, within Wonderland. Wonderland is his mind and his mind is wonderland, a part of all and a part of none, interwoven like threads of a tapestry.

Pierre Pandy

2014
Major: Creative Writing; Digital Media
Senior

Art

My submission to the Wonderland Awards this year is all about the White Rabbit.  The Rabbit is an underappreciated character considering that the mantra “I’m Late!” is how most of us spend our waking lives.  I’m late is not simply a declaration of being behind the time, but the desire to do more with the time that is given.  “Rabbit on Time” is a double entendre.  The poem in the piece is a travel narrative of the Rabbit in his own wonderland.  His want of temporal progression transports him to a place where time has stopped. He has run so far and fast that the effects of time can’t touch him anymore.  Time is the Rabbit’s lover in the poem and by the endshe leaves her because he is happier with the idea of being late.  The chase is more romantic than the acquisition.  This is much like the feeling we get in our lives right after we complete the goal.

Pierre Pandy
Back of canvas

2014
Major: Creative Writing; Digital Media
Senior

Art

My submission to the Wonderland Awards this year is all about the White Rabbit.  The Rabbit is an underappreciated character considering that the mantra “I’m Late!” is how most of us spend our waking lives.  I’m late is not simply a declaration of being behind the time, but the desire to do more with the time that is given.  “Rabbit on Time” is a double entendre.  The poem in the piece is a travel narrative of the Rabbit in his own wonderland.  His want of temporal progression transports him to a place where time has stopped. He has run so far and fast that the effects of time can’t touch him anymore.  Time is the Rabbit’s lover in the poem and by the endshe leaves her because he is happier with the idea of being late.  The chase is more romantic than the acquisition.  This is much like the feeling we get in our lives right after we complete the goal.

Eileen Tai
Infinite Wonders, PI, Zero Wonders

2013
3rd Prize
Major: Fine Arts
Junior

Art

Wonder Bucks are currency I created for the country of Wonderland. The theme of the currency came from Lewis Carrol’s story Alice in Wonderland. Because the Red Queen is the absolute monarch of Wonderland, her signature appears on the bottom left corner to authenticate the bill. Each bill features a character from the story and the numerical value corresponds to the character. Currency could be represented by any object and it does not have to resemble the paper bills we use today. However, I wanted to challenge the value we place on paper bills and thus I designed amounts such as zero, where the numerical value on the bill is worth less than the paper it is printed on. Both the color palette and value of the bills are inspired by Carrol’s characters.

Crystal Ives

2008
Medicine
Undergraduate

Digital Art

The Alice stories contain numerous characters that make short yet memorable appearances. The Gryphon and the Mock Turtle appear in chapter nine of the first book, where they engage in bizarre comparison of their respective educations then teach Alice t dance the Lobster Quadrille. Ive's enthusiasm for the Gryphon is evident in this work's efforts t show how words can operate on multiple dimensions to bring vivid characters and images to life. The result is a literary artwork that mirrors the delightful interplay of metaphor, wordplay, mathematics, and worlds of meaning evident in the original two novels.

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?"

View artist statement.

Tamar Zadiguian

2009
Major: Psychology, Global Business
Undergraduate

Artwork

he painting depicts a fantastical scene of Alice and the Hatter drinking tea surrounded by mushrooms, which she eats when she leaves the party in order to shrink and continue to the gardens. Since time and clocks have a constant presence in the book, the clock in the painting is stuck at the tea party around the teacups to symbolize how time has stopped. The Drink Me bottle hangs over their heads as drinking the contents of the bottle was significant in the beginning of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Jiazhi (Edith) Wu

2011
Major: Electrical Engineering

Oil Painting in two parts

Alexys Carter

2015
Major: Business Administration
Junior

Alexys Carter
Nictography, front

2016
Special Recoginition
Major: Business Administration
Junior

Artwork

I wanted to capture his personal life outside of the writings. The Dodo bird reflecting the image of himself on the card face represents both ways he saw himself: mathematician and author, Charles Dodgson, and the book’s character of the Dodo bird. Since I was making this a playing card format, I figured what better denomination and suit to have than the Queen of Hearts? Dodgson’s personal life also fascinated me because of his nyctography invention. He devised a way that he wouldn’t have to get up to light a candle in the middle of the night when he wanted to write down an idea. In admiration that he created a new alphabet, on the back of my “card” is a symmetrical pattern to resemble what you would see on the backs of playing cards, but the pattern on here says “USC Twelfth Annual Wonderland Awards”.

I kept the color scheme mostly black and white, but I wanted to add a hint of red tone to the “Q” and the heart on the card front. The drawing of Lewis Carroll and the Dodo bird is sketches with black and white charcoal pencils, and I took a more realistic approach to drawing the author himself as supposed to the more cartoon-style drawing for the fictional bird character.

Alexys Carter
Queen of Hearts, Charles Dodgson, Dodo

2016
Special Recoginition
Major: Business Administration
Junior

Artwork

I wanted to capture his personal life outside of the writings. The Dodo bird reflecting the image of himself on the card face represents both ways he saw himself: mathematician and author, Charles Dodgson, and the book’s character of the Dodo bird. Since I was making this a playing card format, I figured what better denomination and suit to have than the Queen of Hearts? Dodgson’s personal life also fascinated me because of his nyctography invention. He devised a way that he wouldn’t have to get up to light a candle in the middle of the night when he wanted to write down an idea. In admiration that he created a new alphabet, on the back of my “card” is a symmetrical pattern to resemble what you would see on the backs of playing cards, but the pattern on here says “USC Twelfth Annual Wonderland Awards”.

I kept the color scheme mostly black and white, but I wanted to add a hint of red tone to the “Q” and the heart on the card front. The drawing of Lewis Carroll and the Dodo bird is sketches with black and white charcoal pencils, and I took a more realistic approach to drawing the author himself as supposed to the more cartoon-style drawing for the fictional bird character.

Saralynn Vargas

2014
Major: Architecture
Sophomore

Inspired by the whimsical and fantastical elements in Lewis Carroll’s work, Vargas utilizes bright watercolors and cartoon-like inked anthropomorphism to emphasize the interplay of reality and surreality present in Alice’s adventure through Wonderland.

Deborah Lemus

2016
Major: Social Work
Master's Degree

Artwork

This art piece takes place from the bottom of the drink me bottle where it is dark and unknown. This redefines the concept of darkness in where Alice can peaks inside the bottle and symbols of adventures,
signs of direction and the moon as her time will be consumed.

Natalie Paolercio

2016
Major: Architecture
Senior

Artwork

What Carol was able to do artistically with language, Salvador Dali accomplished through painting: the creation of contradictory surreal worlds defying conventional logic. Dali and Carol interests intersected with dreams, the imaginary and the concept of time; with that initial crossover, relating Dali’s melting clock to Carol’s white rabbit, I began imagining how Wonderland and Dali’s world of surrealism could collide. I started by looking at Dali’s

works and figures and which ones I could imagine cohabitating Wonderland. Dali and Carol’s settings and scenes are just as transporting and unique as the figures that inhabit them. I played with Dali’s sense of a warped or exaggerated perspective and his varied color palettes. Lastly, I thought about weaving in Dali’s own illustrations of Alice, by making the girl skipping rope the very center of the piece. Playing with scale, a game they all played, helped me think of an enormous spilling tea cup with the extended legs of a Dali elephant, holding up Disney’s Cheshire cat. One of Dali’s surreal giraffes carries Tenniel’s white rabbit barely missing a drop from Dali’s melting clocks.

Natalie Rodriguez
In-between Worlds: Finding the Self Through the Looking-Glass

2010
Major: Biochemistry and Philosophy
Senior

Still-life drawing: Chalk pastel, white charcoal on black construction paper with board frame.
21" x 27"

 But if Wonderland and Looking-Glass were really dream worlds of symbols and archetypes that could be laid out before Alice, as a collection of objects on a lit table-piece in an otherwise dark, empty ante-room, what would that be like? What would it tell her?

With this idea in mind, I rummaged through my garage and a craft store to find a series of dream-like, visually and textually interesting white objects that Alice could conceivably find atop an absurdly arranged table-piece in Wonderland or through the Looking-Glass. As often occurs in dreams, when one encounters a series of doors, keys or a collection of disparate images or objects that, on retrospect, have present (or even prophetic) significance to one’s experience, I sought to arrange a still-life with special significance to Alice’s Dream world. Because Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass especially, are a study in contrasts/ mirror images: black and white kittens, red and white chessboard, red and white Queens and Kings, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Gryphon, the white “grin” of the vanishing Cheshire cat… etc., the still-life drawing is as a black and white negative, with special attention to texture, shadows and how silk and gauze captures the light. The upside-down rabbit mask is a nod to Carroll’s famous White Rabbit who starts Alice’s journey down the rabbit hole. The Duck she meets in “Pool of Tears” and “Caucus Race,” the oyster shells and their cruel fate in “the Walrus and the Carpenter,” Alice’s good “ear” for the linguistic/ situational/ logical nonsense that surges out of virtually everyone’s mouth (even if she is rarely able to locate the source of the trouble), and of course, a word of “Caution” for the journey she is about to embark…

Click to view artist statement.

Joanna Lee

2016
Major: Graphic Design
Junior

Artwork

Alice is gesturing her hands into an imperfect heart that parallels the inverted letter A’s in the corners and the centered singular red heart shape. The piece is structured to resemble an ace of hearts card; the single heart illustrates Alice’s incessant memories of Wonderland that cause loneliness because no one in reality will truly understand her. The piece also features chromatic aberration, causing double, even triple, visions in different hues of Alice’s figure. The concept of multiple visions suggests Alice’s disorientation, as well as the fact that she will never be able to see the world through one lens after what had transpired in Wonderland. ssipate given subtleties that are meant to unnerve the viewer: whether it be the colors that blend into the canvas to give an ethereal atmosphere at first glance, the piercing nature of Alice’s pupils, or the gradual fading away of Alice herself into darkness, these ideas are all indebted to concepts embedded into Carroll’s literary reverie.

Jose Alejandro Medina

2017
Major: Architecture
Senior

Artwork

This makes all maps worthy of studying. From those produced of physical geographies like the one’s created during the Age of Discovery to those that begin with more abstract geogra-phies; like recent attempts to map the world wide web. The specific map that finished sparking my intrigue to begin producing my own maps is a map that lies somewhere in between these two limits. A map of the ocean. “Ocean Chart” produced by English writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll maps out something tangible (the ocean), that at the same time remains very abstract to us. The ocean covers roughly 70% of our planet. However, scientists calculate that only 5% of it has been explored by humans. In fact it is said that we know more about space than we know about the ocean and Carroll’s arguably very “accurate” way of representing this absence of information is creating an absolutely blank map. Through this simple but well thought out gesture the vastness and great depths of the ocean are directly transferred into the unknowing-ness of blank space on paper (Figure 01).
 This map encouraged me to undertake my own attempt at mapping the “un-mappable.” As a subject matter I chose a space that has always been very important to me: the forest. I grew up spending a lot of time in forests near my home, this is where much of my first attempts at art occurred and is still the main space from which I draw inspiration for my projects. While Carroll mapped the ocean through something I like to call subtractive abstraction, my approach to mapping the forest is the opposite; it is additive abstraction. Carroll literally reaches complete blankness or nothingness through the peeling away of layers of information. Even though by the end there is literally nothing left, the map is still able to communicate the idea of the ocean through it’s title, scale and coordinate system (all of which are carefully labeled on it’s edges). The blankness of “Ocean Chart” not only alludes to the fact that we do not know much about the ocean, but it also alludes to mankind’s relationship to it throughout much of history. In a similar way as a writer is said to be most- afraid of a blank piece of paper; the sailor acknowledges, respects and often times fears the great powers of the ocean. Although humankind’s respect for it has slowly faded away, it’s seemingly “untamable” nature has kept people from destroying it for much of history. Humankind’s relationship to the forest has been somewhat different; from the beginning of times human’s have had the notion that we have “tamed” the forest and that it is there for our taking. We cut down trees without thinking twice and cultivate them for our bene-fit. We exploit forests as one of our most important resources and yet do we truly understand them?

Click to view artist statement and 50 images.

Jose Alejandro Medina

2017
Major: Architecture
Senior

Artwork

This makes all maps worthy of studying. From those produced of physical geographies like the one’s created during the Age of Discovery to those that begin with more abstract geogra-phies; like recent attempts to map the world wide web. The specific map that finished sparking my intrigue to begin producing my own maps is a map that lies somewhere in between these two limits. A map of the ocean. “Ocean Chart” produced by English writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll maps out something tangible (the ocean), that at the same time remains very abstract to us. The ocean covers roughly 70% of our planet. However, scientists calculate that only 5% of it has been explored by humans. In fact it is said that we know more about space than we know about the ocean and Carroll’s arguably very “accurate” way of representing this absence of information is creating an absolutely blank map. Through this simple but well thought out gesture the vastness and great depths of the ocean are directly transferred into the unknowing-ness of blank space on paper (Figure 01).
 This map encouraged me to undertake my own attempt at mapping the “un-mappable.” As a subject matter I chose a space that has always been very important to me: the forest. I grew up spending a lot of time in forests near my home, this is where much of my first attempts at art occurred and is still the main space from which I draw inspiration for my projects. While Carroll mapped the ocean through something I like to call subtractive abstraction, my approach to mapping the forest is the opposite; it is additive abstraction. Carroll literally reaches complete blankness or nothingness through the peeling away of layers of information. Even though by the end there is literally nothing left, the map is still able to communicate the idea of the ocean through it’s title, scale and coordinate system (all of which are carefully labeled on it’s edges). The blankness of “Ocean Chart” not only alludes to the fact that we do not know much about the ocean, but it also alludes to mankind’s relationship to it throughout much of history. In a similar way as a writer is said to be most- afraid of a blank piece of paper; the sailor acknowledges, respects and often times fears the great powers of the ocean. Although humankind’s respect for it has slowly faded away, it’s seemingly “untamable” nature has kept people from destroying it for much of history. Humankind’s relationship to the forest has been somewhat different; from the beginning of times human’s have had the notion that we have “tamed” the forest and that it is there for our taking. We cut down trees without thinking twice and cultivate them for our bene-fit. We exploit forests as one of our most important resources and yet do we truly understand them?

Click to view artist statement and 50 images.

Yasmin Davis

2017
Major: Health Promotion & Disease Prevention
Senior

Acrylic Painting

In my Alice in Wonderland inspired piece entitled “Who AM I?” I attempted to include motifs related to identity, which is a recurring theme in Lewis Carroll’s work. In Alice in Wonderland, Alice encounters a group of flowers that repeatedly ask her what she is, and a caterpillar that asks her who she is. After telling them who she is, they respond with disapproval and give her a hard time. In order to convey this, I created a cubism-style painting of Alice falling down the rabbit hole while being wrapped by the flowers’ roots and surrounded by the caterpillar’s smoke. Since these scenes occur in a forest, I used different shades of green as base colors for some of the shapes. In an attempt to contrast the negative events that Alice experienced, I included bright yellows and pinks to emphasize the excitement that Alice feels when traveling through Wonderland.

Simone Frusina

2017
Biomedical Engineering
Senior

Artwork

Xin Yi

2010
Major: Theater
Freshman

Ink on tree bark

Click to view artist statement

 

Lucas Peterson
Behind the Hedge
 
2010
Major: Drawing & Design
Senior

3-D Digital composition based on Down the Rabbit Hole

Lucas Peterson
Cabinet 21

2010
Major: Drawing & Design
Senior

3-D Digital composition based on Down the Rabbit Hole

Lucas Peterson
Cabinet 2
 

2010
Major: Drawing & Design
Senior

3-D Digital composition based on Down the Rabbit Hole

Lucas Peterson
Cupboard

2010
Major: Drawing & Design
Senior

3-D Digital composition based on Down the Rabbit Hole

Lucas Peterson
Drink Me

2010
Major: Drawing & Design
Senior

3-D Digital composition based on Down the Rabbit Hole

Lucas Peterson
Long Hall

2010
Major: Drawing & Design
Senior

3-D Digital composition based on Down the Rabbit Hole

Lucas Peterson
Down the Rabbit Hole

2010
Major: Drawing & Design
Senior

3-D Digital composition based on Down the Rabbit Hole

Mark Teshirogi

2011
Major: Fine Arts, Creative Writing
Senior

Ink and Zerox

I chose the character, the Cheshire Cat, and recreated him using my own visual style. This character was specifically selected for its cultural familiarity and its role in “Alice in Wonderland” as being one of the only characters who, despite being mad, was rational—this would be important for my next step. I then photocopied many reproductions of the cat in order to physically recycle the image, and then proceeded to manipulate the character until it became nothing but a distortion.  This process does several things.  It indicates the effects of recycled images—the original image becomes distorted and loss, resulting in an entirely new and sometimes, unrecognizable image.  The images of distortion reflect an aesthetic of sinking into madness (which in of itself is a reflection of the effects of mass production), suggesting that even rational beings, like the Cheshire Cat, cannot withstand being reproduced and recycled.  Finally, despite the altercations, the image, at its core, is still the Cheshire Cat, and still evokes a sense of familiarity regardless of its changes and recontextualizations—this indicates, that despite the many interpretations of “Alice in Wonderland”, we still identify the changes with the original text.

Blair Strong

2011
Major: Communication
Junior

Digital Art

Joseph Sarafian

2009
Major: Architecture
Undergraduate

Digital Artwork

In Lewis Carroll's work of literary nonsense, Through the Looking Glass, he explores the relationship between life and a game of chess. Whether one is represented by the other, or both operate in simultaneous dimensions, the reader is left to decide. Characters are represented by chess pieces and the geography is sectioned off by a brook, that when crossed represents the movement from one square to another on the chess board. When one works out the chess game illustrated in the beginning of the story, it is clear that the moves defy the laws of the game. It is a mystery why the rules are bent, but one didactic interpretetion of the book states that it was Carol l's way of teaching and illustrating to Alice Liddell the concepts and rules of chess. 
To embody the distorted reality that Caroll creates through his chess metaphor, I created a computer rendering that causes the viewer to question the perception of space and perspective when viewing the pieces of chess. The layout of the pieces is meant to represent the initial perspective that Alice sees when given the free will to move about the board. The book blurs the boundary between chess and reality. This was the spirit that I tried to capture in my composition. 

I used Rhinoceros 3d modeling software available through the School of Architecture and rendered it using a program called V-ray. I then printed it on a plotter provided to USC architecture students in Watt Hall.

Keith Henkel
Dormouse Prize
Caterpillar
2009

Major: Bimedical Engineering, Classics
Graduate Student

I didn't really start out as a fashion designer. I'm studying Biomedical Engineering and Classics here at USC, and I want to pursue a career in prosthetics. Nevertheless, I've stumbled upon clothing design just under two years ago, and it started when I wanted to be a Grizzly Bear for Halloween. I couldn't find what I was looking for so I decided to make it. I took a giant teddy bear, cut off its head and sewed it by hand onto the hood of a sweatshirt. That one instance grew into a hobby and then into an obsession very quickly! I loved that I could make something from scratch with my hands and when I was done, it would be presented on someone' s body. People became like walking art galleries to me.

Click to view artist statement.

Keith Henkel
Dormouse Prize
Dormouse
2009

Major: Biomedical Engineering, Classics
Graduate Student

I didn't really start out as a fashion designer. I'm studying Biomedical Engineering and Classics here at USC, and I want to pursue a career in prosthetics. Nevertheless, I've stumbled upon clothing design just under two years ago, and it started when I wanted to be a Grizzly Bear for Halloween. I couldn't find what I was looking for so I decided to make it. I took a giant teddy bear, cut off its head and sewed it by hand onto the hood of a sweatshirt. That one instance grew into a hobby and then into an obsession very quickly! I loved that I could make something from scratch with my hands and when I was done, it would be presented on someone' s body. People became like walking art galleries to me.

Keith Henkel
Dormouse Prize
Gryphon
2009

Major: Biomedical Engineering, Classics
Graduate Student

I didn't really start out as a fashion designer. I'm studying Biomedical Engineering and Classics here at USC, and I want to pursue a career in prosthetics. Nevertheless, I've stumbled upon clothing design just under two years ago, and it started when I wanted to be a Grizzly Bear for Halloween. I couldn't find what I was looking for so I decided to make it. I took a giant teddy bear, cut off its head and sewed it by hand onto the hood of a sweatshirt. That one instance grew into a hobby and then into an obsession very quickly! I loved that I could make something from scratch with my hands and when I was done, it would be presented on someone' s body. People became like walking art galleries to me.

Keith Henkel
Dormouse Prize
White Rabbit
2009

Major: Biomedical Engineering, Classics
Graduate Student

I didn't really start out as a fashion designer. I'm studying Biomedical Engineering and Classics here at USC, and I want to pursue a career in prosthetics. Nevertheless, I've stumbled upon clothing design just under two years ago, and it started when I wanted to be a Grizzly Bear for Halloween. I couldn't find what I was looking for so I decided to make it. I took a giant teddy bear, cut off its head and sewed it by hand onto the hood of a sweatshirt. That one instance grew into a hobby and then into an obsession very quickly! I loved that I could make something from scratch with my hands and when I was done, it would be presented on someone' s body. People became like walking art galleries to me.