Alice Uncovered

The first phase of a two-stage project to restore the so-called “Alice in Wonderland” mural, located in San Diego State University's Hardy Tower, is drawing to a close with many of the artwork’s colorful images now uncovered.

Damages have also been discovered requiring repairs before the restoration can be completed.

Conservator Gary Hulbert began the restoration in late December. He has been working inch by inch to remove several layers of wall paint from the mural first covered over by maintenance workers decades ago.

In recent weeks, Hulbert has managed to uncover Alice and many other characters in the original mural. He said he is generally pleased and may be a little surprised by what he found under the wall paint.

“I think maybe the unexpected was how good condition the Queen of Hearts and some of the figures were underneath because I knew there was quite a bit of water damage towards the top of the mural,” he said. “But Alice — there was a figure above her (in good condition) and then down the rabbit hole is in just incredible shape."

The man in the bowtie

The figure Hulbert found above Alice is that of a man holding a hat, probably the artist’s interpretation of the Mad Hatter. The character was discovered after Hulbert removed panels from a dropped ceiling likely added several years after the mural was painted.

“He has a bow tie,” said SDSU Anthropology Department Chairman Seth Mallios, who has led the effort to preserve many of the campus’ historic artworks. “In many popular images of the Mad Hatter since the time the character was created, he is depicted wearing a bow tie.”

Hulbert said he is pleased to have found so much original paint from the mural still on the wall. More distressing to the conservator, however, is damage to the wall on which the mural is painted surrounding a stairwell window.

"There’s quite a bit of water damage toward the top left and along the bottom left of the window,” Hulbert said. “Water seeped behind the mural in the stucco layer and plaster layer and it's pretty loose sand-like material right now.”

Hulbert will dig out the loose areas and patch them, causing as little damage to the surrounding original paint as possible. In the second phase of the restoration, damaged areas will be in-painted to help return the mural to its original appearance.

SDSU treasures

The “Alice in Wonderland” mural is one of several historic artworks discovered to have been painted over or otherwise obscured through the years in Hardy Tower. In the first half of the last century, the location served as a sort of lab for art students to test their talents as muralists.

“Alice” was painted by SDSU alumnus Albert J. Lewis (’49, ’55) during his student days. It was one of two rediscovered a few years ago during remodeling work in the Hardy Tower building, which originally served as the campus library.

The other artwork, still covered in wall paint, is an homage to Odysseus. Both murals are believed to have been created more than 60 years ago.

Two WPA-era murals were also uncovered during routine maintenance in the same area a decade ago. Both were removed from Hardy Tower, restored and relocated to a more visible display area in the library’s newest addition.

Hulbert helped restore those murals. He said he takes "immense satisfaction” in working to preserve such a colorful part of SDSU's history.

“This is something that has been covered over for decades and if you think about a painting in the 1940s, most universities don't have that,” he observed. “So these are treasures."

Fundraising continues for the second phase of the mural restoration. Plans call for completion in time for this year’s 150th anniversary of the release of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s tale on which the mural is based.