By Dr. Angel Morgan

In my last blog, I told you about the two OSF plays that will be part of the Theater, Dreams, and Art IASD regional conference in Ashland, Oregon. This time, I want to tell you about the Dream Artist Symposium!

Opening the symposium, I will present an overview of the connection and psychological interplay between dreams and visual arts, using my research on the link between dreams and creativity as a frame of reference. With broad and detailed brush strokes, we will look at examples of dream inspired drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, mixed media, and performance art, from Ancient Egypt through the 21st Century. 

Then I will introduce three local dream artists.

Who are the dream artists?

Ten years ago, when I was researching the link between dreams and creativity using phenomenology and documentary filmmaking as research methods, I interviewed these three artists in Ashland. Five years ago, I released their interviews in the web series, Conversations with Artists about Dreams. And now we will feature these artists and hear about their dream-bridged work at Hidden Springs on Sunday, June 2nd.

Whether I am introducing them to you for the first time, or you are already a fan of their work, these are the three artists.

Kevin Christman

Kevin Christman (Ashland, OR) is from St. Cloud, Minnesota. He became an aerospace engineer in Los Angeles and studied Art in Pasadena before moving to Santa Fe in 1990 to pursue his professional art career. He has lived in Ashland for 20 years creating grand scale sculpture, painting and stained glass artwork.

His website

Victoria Christian

Victoria Christensen, M.A., M.S.W (Ashland, Oregon) a.k.a. Victoria Christian, is a transpersonal and integral therapist, visionary artist, editor, contributing writer and artist to the anthology Feminine Mysticism in Art: Artists Envisioning the Divine. As an art therapist, she incorporates Jungian theory and dream analysis. 

Her website

Denise Kester

Denise Kester (Ashland, OR) visual artist, has been teaching workshops and classes for 20 years in the creative arts including monoprinting, collage, mixed media, and book arts. She has been exhibiting and selling her original works since 1985. She works in her garden studio next to Ashland Creek, and at the Ashland Art Center. *Denise Kester will not be able to join us. Instead, we will show her 15 min. episode (Episode IV) of Conversations With Artists About Dreams (2009/2014). 

Her website

Each artist will present their work, describe their relationship to the link between dreams and art, and describe their process of bridging their dreams and their art (either live, or in Denise’s case on video). Questions and discussion will follow. 

To attend the Dream Art Symposium, you will need to sign up for the whole IASD Ashland regional event. Click on the white rabbit below to register.

See you there!