Alice In Wonderland Sculpture

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.

PRINT
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.
PRINT
Local Houston—Aug 2016 Down the Rabbit Hole Evelyn’s Park Sculpture Brings a Classic to Life.

PRINT
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. )

PRESS RELEASE

The sculpture consists of a ten-foot table with a dormouse shoved in a tea pot, just as in the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Three benches offers seating for guests, and one has a chess board in it so, be sure to bring your chest set. A nine-foot Mad Hatter flanks the 24-foot long sculpture on the left. He pushes out of his chair which is complete with arms in the shape of a lion and unicorn and feet of the chair like flamingos. The seat is unbalanced and toppling over as the Hatter stands up, gesturing  to the end of the table and pouring tea. The March Hare sits on a stump at the center of the table talking to the guests to his right while dipping a watch in his tea. Alice watches on from a large overstuffed chair. The Cheshire Cat sports a “curious” beatnik look an rests on top of Alice’s chair.  There is plenty of room for guests in the the coveted seat next to Alice. The artist created the sculpture so that each character interacts with an empty place, in other words, the scene is not complete until you are there.

If feasting at the table and visiting with fanciful creatures is not intriguing enough Mongeon has hidden 150 things in the sculpture in honor of the 150th anniversary of the endearing story. The treasure hunt begins at the dedication plaque shaped as a storybook, balanced on a tree trunk. There is a small stump for children to step up and touch the mouse that rests on a leaf as parents read the dedication. Look at the top of the storybook and you will see the feet of a small white rabbit jumping down a hole at the top of the book. Walk around the stump, and you will see a cut away from the hole where another very small Alice is falling. This dedication plaque begins the search for the 150 hidden things.

Many have asked if there is a master list of the 150 hidden things? Only in the artists head. She will begin to reveal the hidden things through riddle and rhyme in a book and online at alicesculpture.com, the findingalicesculpture Facebook page and Instagram. She has provided a free detective notebook for families and individuals who might like to document the 150 hidden items. You can find a link to the notebook and other free printables at www.alicesculpture.com.

An avid reader Mongeon hopes that the scene will encourage literacy, but the educational element has gone way beyond that. The creation of “Move One Place On” was a chance to educate children and adults in STEAM. STEAM is an educational initiative that focuses on Science, Technology Engineering, Art, and Math. Mongeon, Alice, and her friends have helped to present STEAM in Wonderland to adults and children at the Bellaire Library, and at Young Women in Math and Science. Mongeon also presented it at 3D Printing World Expo, the Lewis Carroll 150th anniversary celebration, and last November art teachers all over Texas were introduced to STEAM in Wonderland at the Texas Art Educators conference where Mongeon was the  keynote speaker. Mongeon is excited about creating more educational opportunities and is presently working on free curriculum for schools and homeschoolers. She thinks the author Charles Dodgson AKA Lewis Carroll, would approve. After all Dodgson was a mathematician.

The sculpture has been completed by Deep in The Heart Art Foundry in Bastrop, Texas and installation is planned for early April. In March Mongeon traveled to Deep in the Heart for a metal check and to direct patina on the metal sculpture that weights in near 6,000 lbs. Now that the foundry has the artist’s approval, it will travel through Texas on an open bed trailer from Bastrop to Bellaire and Alice and her friends will have their final resting place in  Evelyn’s memorial garden in Evelyn’s Park.  Keep an eye out for Alice and the gang. You just might see them coming down the I-10 freeway.

While at Deep In The Heart art foundry open house the artist visited the sculpture with her five-year-old granddaughter Issa Sizemore. The artist created the artwork in pieces and sent it to the foundry to expedite the process. Even though she created it she had never seen the entire scene altogether. Issa has watched the sculpture take shape and grew up with the design. At the open house, Issa acted as a tour guide climbing all over the sculpture and sharing the secrets of the hidden items. Guests will spend more time under the table than on top of it as the artist says there are approximately 60 things hidden under the table, including many doors to magical places.

Bellaire and Houston will now have one of the most coveted dining experiences in Texas. The curious adventure created with Mongeon’s work “Move One Place On ” will continue to intrigue and delight people of all ages.

Dedication is scheduled for April 21, 11-4

Evelyn’s Park
4400 Bellaire Boulevard
Bellaire, Texas 77401
281.946.9372
info@evelynspark.org