Topic: College of Fine Arts

December 12, 2008

The Ball State University Museum of Art will feature Fantasy and Fairy Tales and Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland by Maggie Taylor from Jan. 16 to March 22. The exhibits will feature prints from the museum's collection that depict the true nature of folk tales.  Most fairy tales and folk tales were cleaned up for children, but they originally contained stories of violence and vengeance.

The exhibition includes prints from Paula Rego, Kiki Smith and Peregrine Honig. Other artists represented include Francisco de Goya, James Ensor, Emil Nolde and Pablo Picasso.

"What unites many of these prints is aquatint. It's used by Francisco de Goya in the late 18th century and Kiki Smith in the 21st century," said Peter Blume, director of the museum. 

Almost Alice: New Illustrations of Wonderland is a collection of original images created by Maggie Taylor. The exhibition features 45 digital-inkjet prints made by scanning original 19th century photographs, line drawings and illustrations.  Taylor then combined them with her own landscape photography, resulting in images that are inventive and ironic, a visual surrealism. Taylor's images will be included in a new edition of the classic story "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.

"What makes this exhibition interesting is the way the artist combines Lewis Carroll's 19th century sensibilities – his fantasy as well as his political satire – and the photomedia of that era, such as daguerreotypes, with the digital manipulation capabilities of our own era," Blume said. "By doing so, Taylor's presentation makes Carroll's story meaningful to a whole new audience."

An opening preview reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m on Jan. 15. Admission to the museum is free and it is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday ,from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.bsu.edu/artmuseum or call 765-285-5242.

By Alyssa Brumback