Colette Shumate Smith | Alice in the Rose Garden
Opening
Sunday, March 17 at The Bull Run
3-5 PM
This show has become a ritual in my life. Who would have thought that Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” and “Through the Looking Glass,” (published in 1865 and 1871, respectively) would be so relevant 160 years later.
I grew up with Alice curtains on my childhood bedroom window. Carroll’s ink drawings were repeated across the fabric. I woke up to pictures of The Mock Turtle and The Walrus by the Sea. Weary gardeners painted roses, and the Queen commanded her brigade. I can close my eyes and still see the ink drawings dancing across the colorful background in the sunlight.
MaMa read to us, and we all wondered what would become of Alice? Would she be stuck forever in a magical and nonsense world? Her allies are the White Rabbit (who is always late), the Cheshire Cat (who keeps reappearing out of thin air), and of course the Caterpillar content on his mushroom surrounded by smoke rings. A poetic dormouse and the Lobster Quadrille are tucked in the corners of my written history. Alice escapes The Red Queen and is later helped by The White Queen to travel. Deep down I respect her tenacity, her stick-to-itiveness, her comeuppance. She speaks out, she reasons, she is curious about her circumstance. These are qualities I admire in Alice; her perseverance when the cards are stacked against her.
My surreal floating landscapes take a familiar turn as I jump down the rabbit hole. My choice of title this year is “Alice in the Rose Garden.” This series has a foggy atmospheric perspective and smoke rings from the caterpillar’s dream. I printed and developed tissue paper roses and hand-made paper overlays. Look deeper into the dream world and find a transformed butterfly, an odd crow, and all the King’s men. See a chess game board activity beside a woodland trail. The Duchess appears to be watching fish in an aquarium. Lobsters dance above a village. Rabbits, mice, and flowers abound. These surprise images fill the picture plane in this nonsense world.
The rose garden in the Alice story is a gossip session with a couple of bullies. “They” (The Roses) talk about her, and each other, in a comparative refrain. We, the reader, listen in on the conversation. “Is she a wildflower?” (“Am I?”, “Are you?”)
Her curious questions eventually lead her home. A lively discussion happens before she runs away with the Queen, in hopes of getting to the games on time. Promise me a view through rose-colored glasses, and I will show you Alice and her wonderful Garden filled with roses.