Dreams as Sources of Artistic Production

Abstract

Art is an expression of the mind, either consciously or unconsciously, in relief, or in two or three dimension through different media. The manifest or conscious experience is visible and could be fully expressed while the latent or unconscious which is invisible, is beyond human understanding unless it is interpreted. Sleeping dream experiences relate to issues of deeper levels of understanding which could be recast, and if systematically analyzed paves the way to solving many psychological problems. This paper is about some hidden meanings of symbols in dreams and looks at how to use sleeping dream experiences in producing art in relief sculpture. Data was collected using the qualitative and descriptive methods through mainly interviews. The qualitative experimental method was used to portray the experiences from the researcher’s dreams while the descriptive method was employed to describe the researcher’s personal encounters of dreams. Interviews with knowledgeable individuals who can interpret dreams were carried out to support the researcher’s own understanding of dreams. This has helped the author to interpret the dream scenes employed in the paper. Dream experiences were presented in words and transformed into two-dimensional sketches, representing the important activities of the dream. The central ideas within them, which were the finished sketches, were developed and used to portray the dream experiences. Papié mâché, which is marched paper mixed with cement as a binding agent in a paste form was used to produce the work with a touch of multi-coloured finish. Each dream experience employed in the production, from the narration to the finished works, has a unique meaning and understanding which allowed the free flow of the mind to capture scenes from the dreams and their presentation artistically. Works presented in this way, created memorable pictures in the mind of both the dreamer and the observer.

Keywords: Conscious, "De l’étèrnité à l’étèrnité” (from eternity to eternity), dream, papié mâché, surreal, sub-conscious.