I grew up in a house saturated with art and craft, along with dreamwork. I learned from a very early age that dreams and art making go hand-in-hand. There is a long history of artists and makers taking inspiration from their dreams, including many indigenous and aboriginal traditions. From the pre-Raphaelites, to the Impressionists, to the “Manifesto of Surrealism”, artists have been weaving together their dreams and reality. Salvador Dalί In his 1948 book 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship, explained in detail how he used the hypnogogic and hypnopompic states to invigorate his work. Modern poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, and film-makers have also spoken of the value of dreams for their artistic inspiration. Even those who are not seen as “creative,” like famed dream analyst Carl Jung, created vibrant, colorful drawings and paintings in their dream journals.
Sometimes on waking, I don’t want to write a whole, long dream segment down, so I do a sketch instead. These simple drawings can bring enormous insight, all on their own!
