Month: April 2018

Now that the sculpture is installed, media week/month begins.   Here are a few pieces of recent coverage as well as some personal Facebook live videos from both the artist and the hosts.  Media week/Month continues. The sculpture is not only an incredible piece of art to look at; but it is also an educational tool that encourages literacy and with the artists help the art supports the education of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.  You will soon see more segments. And because the artwork and artists have a broader outreach such as STEM AND STEAM education and the marriage of art and technology the reach is wider than local. She uses the same mix of art and tech as in her book 3D Technology In Fine Art and Craft: Exploring 3D Printing, Scanning, Sculpting and Milling and she is not done. Wait until you see what else is down this rabbit hole.

CW39- Posted April 14th
Mongeon reports that working with CW 39 was special because her granddaughter woke up very early and participated. Later they put up all of the live segments for others to see. Alice in Wonderland Tea Party life-size sculpture in Evelyn’s Park Conservancy   Maggie in the morning did a live Facebook in between takes. The sculptor Bridgette Mongeon turned the tables and interviewed Maggie on Facebook live. 

NBC affiliate KPRC- April 10, 2018
KHOU came out and created a segment
“Alice in Wonderland’ tea party sculpture installed at Evelyn’s Park in Bellaire”

CBS Affiliate KHOU – April 10, 2018
KHOU came out and created several segments for the morning news. The only one saved and put up on the internet is“Life After Harvey: New sculptures installed in Bellaire Park”  While waiting between segments the artist did a live Facebook interview with Sherry Williams, though it was so dark the video quality leaves something to be desired.

Fox April 9- 2018 FOX Bayou City Buzz – Evelyn’s Park
The News Edge Reporter CoCo Dominguez created a wonderful segment showing lots of video of the installed art.

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Houston Chronicle – April 17, 2018 Park Debuts Sculpture, Celebrates first year
The Buzz Magazines – April 16, 2018 Tea Time in the Park Alice in Wonderland at Evelyn’s Park
Houstonia Magazine– April 6 2018 An Interactive Alice In Wonderland Sculpture Arrives at Evelyn’s Park
The Buzz Magazine—Feb 2017 Taking Time To Read

 

Video Media often meets early like 5:00 a.m. early. There is sometimes a lot of waiting and This something happened in the aritsts studio when the main figures were complete. in April of 2016 before they were sent off to the foundry Much thanks goes out to Erin Woosley of On the Mark Communications who has done such a great job in securing media on the project.

 

PERVIOUS MEDIA
This was not the only media week. The media attention started when the project started. Take a look at some previous promotion of the project. Some from as far away as Italy.

TELEVISION
Houston PBS—April 2016 Arts Insights.
CW 39 Street Stories—Feb 2016 Houston artist creates a wonderland of sculptures
KHOU—Feb 2016 Alice in Wonderland Coming to Evelyn’s Park
ABC 13- Houston—Feb 2016 Houston City Parks “Hidden Gems”: Inside Some Must-See Green Spaces.
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Local Houston—Aug 2016 Down the Rabbit Hole Evelyn’s Park Sculpture Brings a Classic to Life.

 

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Leader—July 13 Leader area sculptor goes down the rabbit hole
Houston Chronicle—March 2016 Whimsical Sculptures Make Evelyn’s Park Home
The Buzz Magazine—March 2016- Evelyn’s Park Updates: Foundation, Naming Contest and Sculpture
Houston Chronicle—July 2015 New sculpture for Evelyn’s Park will bring ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to life.
Jewish Herald Voice—July 2015 Right out of Alice in Wonderland
Culture Map–July 2015  Down the rabbit hole: Evelyn’s Park goes mad for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland
Glasstire—July 2015 The Boston Tea Party or the ad Hatter Tea Party
3D Printing Industry—July 2015 3D Technology is a Trip Down the Rabbit Hole for Artist Bridgette Mongeon

PODCASTS
3D printing Sculpture Through The Tech Looking Glass 

 

 

On Thursday April 12, the park had a private unveiling of the sculpture and a dedication. The Rubenstein family, park donors and the artist were invited. Everyone was so pleased with the artwork. As Bo Rubenstein said to the artist, “You went over and above what anyone expected.”

It was an unusually cold and rainy day for the installation of Alice and her friends in Evelyn’s Park.  A flatbed truck carrying the characters on an open bed trailer drove down the I-10 freeway during rush hour traffic. I’m sure a few heads turned. The entire scene weighs in at 6,000 pounds.

Police blocked off one westbound lane on the busy road of Bellaire Boulevard.  A crane which was late, I hear they had it on their schedule for the following day, finally arrived and parked on the gravel road in the park where many of the food trucks park during events.

It was quite a site to see the long crane arm move over the park, pick up a 9 foot March Hare and watch him fly through the sky to his final resting place in Evelyn’s Memorial Garden. Each piece made this same flight.

The positioning of each of the characters is very important to the design. Bridgette Mongeon created each character so that they are looking at an empty space.  In other words, the scene is not complete until people are at the scene and interacting with the characters. The artist worked with Deep In the Heart Art Foundry both in Bastrop and on site to make the installation perfect.

The crew from Deep in The Heart Art Foundry, the artist and the crane operators worked long hours. The installation began at 8:00 a.m. and finished up nearly 12 hours later.

Alice, her chair and the Cheshire cat are one piece. The table top and base is a second piece. There are two small benches that are on each side of the March Hare, The march Hare and his stump are a piece on their own. The Mad Hatter and his chair are one piece. There is one long bench in the front of the table, and then the book/dedication pedestal sits off to the side. That means eight major pieces needed to be installed.

Each of the pieces has stainless steel footings. Once each piece is placed, installation begins. The workers drill the concrete and then secure the threaded rod in each hole. Later the nuts will be welded onto the threaded rods.

Each of the pieces float in the area. The park plans on coming in and putting bark mulch fill with gravel under the mulch for drainage. The rest of the park has a crushed pea gravel, much to Bridgette’s dismay. This sand type component gets into the shoes of children who track it onto the sculpture. It also blows from the surrounding areas and lands on the art. This material may act like sandpaper and is a good way to scratch the surface of the art.

The welded rods used as support are taken off of the Mad Hatter’s arms. Each piece is ground smooth.  Last but not least, the sploosh that comes from the Mad Hatter’s teapot must be welded to the table. The foundry welds this in place and then finishes the patina or the color to match the rest of the scene.

The only thing left is to clean off the sculpture and give it a good polish. The park screens off the sculpture and Bridgette brings a team of artists, along with gathering anyone in the park that wants to help, and together they buff out the sculpture to make it shine.

With a little maintenance of cleaning yearly and waxing the sculpture it will last a long time. The patina may darken a bit, but the work of art, now installed, will last for generations to come.

( There are some live videos of the installation on Finding Alice Sculpture on Facebook. Video Number 1, Number 2 Number 3, Number 4, and a friend says a jewish Blessing over the sculpture installation. )