Alice... and Autism

I'm on an Alice in Wonderland kick lately, artistically speaking.  I think it's the femininity and weirdness of it all that appeals to me so much.  This time, I'm working on a very special project that's personal to me on several fronts -- a custom child's chair, for the NIGHT OF MUSICAL CHAIRS event, to benefit the Elliot Sylvester ATCA Fund.  Here's the backstory...

First of all... Autism is close to my heart.  In the 80's, while an undergrad at UCLA, I had the honor to work in one of the country's at-the-time leading autism treatment programs -- The UCLA Autism Project, led by Ivar Lovass, PhD -- as first a volunteer, and then a paid, junior therapist.  I took lecture classes and seminars, trained in behavior modification techniques, and spent hours one-on-one with two special clients over the course of many months, both of them under five years of age, and came to know and love and in some ways, become a part of, their families.  The things families deal with when a member is severely autistic are deep and difficult and draining, and I learned that more first-hand than most.

Second... One of my best and oldest friends in the world, Laura, has a son who's autistic -- Elliot.  He's charming and beautiful, and he's pretty severely affected with a very limited vocabulary and many of the "typical" signs and symptoms of autism.  The Sylvester family is trying to get to Massachusetts for an intensive training/treatment program called Son-Rise, offered by the Autism Treatment Center of America.  The whole shebang costs a huge amount of money -- $17.500.   Can you say, Ouch... ?

Being "normal" folk without the spare change for such a pricey venture, Laura and her husband Rick are fundraising like mad to finance their trip.  For some time, they've been selling "Elliot Art" -- greeting cards and original canvases featuring art by their son, Elliot.  But it'll take a lot of greeting cards to cover that pricetag!

Recently, Laura invited me and several of our other college friends to participate in their newest fundraiser, a silent auction to be held at Hensley's Flying Elephant Pub in Carlsbad, California (near San Diego) this July 12. (The Flying Elephant, by the way, is owned by Matt Hensley of the band FLOGGING MOLLY.  Kewl!) 

Anyhoos... me and Laura and many of her family and friends have in hand an unfinished children's IKEA chair (like the one shown below) to paint, decoupage, or otherwise customize, to be sold at the auction.  There will be music and great company and it promises to be a grand time, for a terrific, worthy cause.

And this is where my newest Alice in Wonderland piece enters the conversation! :)  Today, I completed my first EVER digital painting -- of Alice.  Yeah, I've played around before manipulating photos digitally.  But today is the first time I've scanned a pencil sketch and then fully colored and finished it with my pen and tablet (versus "polishing" an existing picture.)  And woohoo, what great (if time consuming) fun it was!  This image of a funkified, more hip/adult version of Alice is for my Alice-themed chair, and will  be printed onto fabric paper... then attached to a backing fabric, all of that to be covered by clear protective vinyl, ultimately becoming a permanent seat cushion for the otherwise wood-slatted chair seat I was given to work with.

I have lots of other plans in store for this chair -- the Alice image is just a small part of the overall theme -- all of them designed to benefit the Elliot Sylvester ATCA Fund.  Whee!!!  I'm soooooooo excited about this project.  More pictures will follow, as I work my way through this multi-step process.

For more information on Elliot, his diagnosis and treatment, Autism Treatment Center of America, the Son-Rise program for which the Sylvester family are raising funds, and/or on this special summer event -- A NIGHT OF MUSICAL CHAIRS -- please, please check out these links:

Elliot's Room
Son-Rise
Fundraising -- The Elliot Sylvester ATCA Fund
Elliot Art -- Notecards
Elliot Art -- Originals
A Night of Musical Chairs

Comments

[Paula]

Love the design Shelli! What a great idea for a fundraiser. Good luck with the end result ... can't wait to see it!

[Bev]

Love the Alice work -- remember Grace Slick? She's doing some cool Alice work too -- you can see some of it here: http://www.peabodyfineart.com/slick/

good luck with the fund raiser