Last Christmas (1995), I had an important dream.

There was a lot of bright Christmas red in it. (It is unusual for me to see color in my dreams.) One of the settings was a fancy Indian restaurant which my mother, grandmother and I wanted to enter. (See my actual mother and grandmother in upper right-hand corner. The little girl with the white Persian cat is me, eight years old. In the dream there was a little girl in a fancy dress, who was talking to her cat while I was begging her to help me find my family.) I recognized it as Gaylord's at Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco, a place where we often took our children on special occasions; a place we all liked.

One Saturday when my husband and I were walking around on Fisherman's Wharf, I was looking for a large colored photo of Gaylord's to use in a collage. Perhaps I already had the idea of making a collage based on this dream. After searching in vain, I found the photo at home.

The other setting in the dream had something to do with Tunisia. I actually heard the word clearly. I had no idea what Tunisia looked like, so I leafed through a lot of old National Geographics until I found an illustrated article. I cut out a few of the pictures. (Lower left and lower center of collage. The dead-looking tress are photos I took in South Africa, at the end of their winder. I thought they were dead; but our guide told me they would all be green soon, when the rainy season began.)

I needed another central image, a very frightened girl or woman, since I felt very threatened in the dream. In the second scene, I found myself alone at night in the narrow, Casaba-like, with a few seedy, strange-looking characters slinking around in the dark. I found a photo of a terrified Afghani girl on the cover of one of my _National Geographics_. But she was much too young, so I aged her using oil pastels. I made her look more like me. (See central image under red-violet cellophane. The purple tissue-paper "hand" just happened.

I found a large board to work on. Foam core, thick cardboard, or canvas board. I played around with all these materials, moving them around tentatively, having fun trying out different arrangements. Then I glued them. But you can transform your dreams in a much freer way if you like. The choice of colors creates a mood. Also the materials you use, as I used Christmas wrapping paper and tinsel for a Christmas dream. You don't have to be as literal as I am. Using the actual photos of myself and my family makes it more *real* for me, than crude attempts to draw or paint them. I also enjoy using photos that I have taken

The bottom line is this.

I knew that dreams are important guides to living if we understand them, and I love to make collages, paintings, and sculptures. You can do it too! If you like it, it's good. I will be happy to hear about your adventures with Dream Art.

Stop by my dream inspired art site, the Granny Gallery

http://www.nancyrichterbrzeski.com

and experience my other dream inspired pieces of art. Be sure to make comments and send me email at

abrzeski@ucdeavis.edu

- Nancy