Artists take hold of dreams: Interpretations rendered through variety of media in upcoming exhibit
By Sandy Barnes
© 2011 Loveland Reporter-Herald
Works of art as multilayered as the dreams that inspired them are the theme of an upcoming exhibit at the Poudre River Arts Center in Fort Collins.
The Artists in Dreamland exhibit, which opens May 4, encompasses a broad range of media from bold acrylic paintings to richly textured three-dimensional creations.
Among the 16 artists displaying their work is Wewer Keohane of Carbondale, who focuses exclusively on dream imagery. “From the time I was small, I had a basic interest in dreams,” she says. “Although I tried to portray dreams literally in the past, I now try to sense the dream and record the energy of its experience,” Keohane says. “I still use both processes.”
Keohane uses a variety of elements in her work from wax and paints to gold leaf and recycled tea bags, which she shaped into an intricate kimono creation.
Collections of her work are on display at the Denver Art Museum and at galleries in Washington, D.C., Paris and New Orleans.
Keohane is displaying three new pieces at the Poudre Arts Center including one titled “Breaking the Patterns,” which incorporates wax and gold leaf textures. She also will have copies of her latest book, “Artful Dreaming,” available at the exhibit.
Estes Park artist Dee Dee Hampton is exhibiting several of her dream-inspired works in the show, including paintings and assemblages she created from found objects. “I end up using Jell-O molds, doll parts, little pieces of jewelry,” she says. Hampton says she also incorporates metal embossing with things she finds on the ground, putting them into place as she forms the works.
One of Hampton’s pieces, “OhMite Has the Answer,” consists of a doll head, wings, wire and shells on an embellished metallic base. Her “Roots and Blooming” painting features a prominent blue owl and red hand against a multicolored background of designs. “It’s a piece about being comfortable in your own skin,” Hampton explains. “These pieces are inspired by a feeling,” says Hampton. “I put myself in a trance-like state when I paint, and I allow images to appear. “The thing about dream art is the process rather than the product,” she adds.
Artist Kat Peters-Midland, who is organizing the exhibit, says she experiences dreams as significant, both personally and creatively. The three clay sculptures that Peters-Midland has in the show reflect a dream about taking people to a pond that she had visited. “I’ve been energized by this dream,” she says.
“This is a very personal kind of art show,” says Peters-Midland. “It shows our connectedness … the universality of experience.”
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