My Art For IASD 2008

I had a nice time visiting the International Association of the Study of Dreams in their cyber conference which ended the 5th of October. There was wonderful art and lots of great workshops and informative papers and lively conversation on the threads. I entered five pieces of art, each with a dream verse-- dreamku or series. I decided that I should display a couple of them here since they all have to do with dreaming and may subsequently be included in Patchwork Faces of the Moon or one of the sequels that I plan.

Piercing Eyes

Piercing Eyes is a good example of how creating art can help you focus on your dreamwork. After I started manipulating photos of myself in Photoshop's Image/Adjust/Curves ... It didn't look much like me anymore. I thought ... I know that face though ... it looks Native American ... I have seen it in my dreams. It is the face of a man, and in my dreams he is dressed rather like anyone might be, so I don't know exactly how I know that he is American Indian. He does seem to be wearing long hair in a pony tail. He is never a main player in my dreams, but a reoccurring extra ... so to speak. I started remembering him only after I saw his face in my art. Then I recalled him lingering around in the peripheral of my dreamscape. I hardy ever notice him in my dreams ... but remember him on awakening. I think he is a good guy. Maybe an ancestor trying to get my attention and guide me. He does look a little like me ... in a strange-colored dream-altered kind of way.

piercing eyes
quiet mixed blood holds
proud Cherokee traits

I should mention that I am part Cherokee, albeit only about an eighth.

Tree Watcher

Tree Watcher is a reflection of many dreams I experience where everything seems more real than reality. Things are clearer, poignant, alive -- rather like Alice in Wonderland meets Bilbo Baggins.

The message is a Dreamku series. Dreamku is a form of verse akin to Haiku. Most rules apply, but being dream-based verse, these phrases try to capture a moment in a dream. As a series, the verse may encapsulate several moments, but each separate three-line stanza should stand on it’s on. Many of you will remember Patricia Kelly from her workshop last year. I have worked with her all year by email and in her Yahoo group, Dreamjin, learning the art of Dreamku. It is an excellent tool for dream exploration an often cuts to the core of the dream when you are searching for that perfect word.

past and future
beneath your sentinel gaze
collisions abound

like heat waves
our lives mere shimmers
ancient eyes blink

human echoes trace
heat rising fast to heaven
you frozen between