Lisa Rasmussen is an artist
whose dreams have always inspired her life and work. While studying in
Italy in June, she discovered a passion for ceramics, and plans to get
her M.F.A. with that focus. She is living her dream of creating in
sacred sites around the world, and is currently planning an adventure
back to Machu Picchu or Bhutan in 2003.
To see more of her work, check out her
web site WWW.ETERNALGUILD.COM
(created and maintained by the incredibly talented web mistress Margie
Kaplan).
Artist's Statement
My dream world has been prophetic and
challenging. Through my dream paintings, I have discovered many layers
within my dreams and myself. When we manifest dreams and portray them
on canvas, we link the conscious and subconscious mind. Archetypes
reside in the dream world, and when you create with them, you can
awaken their potential power in your life. "Create, create and
create" is the mantra of the universe.
"Sleeping Egyptians" evolved
from dreamwork in Jeremy Taylor's dream class. In this fragmented
dream, I am walking on a cliff. I walk past a man and his two
dachshunds on leashes. He has made a spectacle out of the poor dogs.
They are both dressed with fake orange fur and the dogs have hermetic
caps on their heads. He is pulling them up and down like puppets. Then
I am in a room -- a narrow corridor made entirely of windows. I am
lying on my belly (like a child). I look out and I see dolphins
creating a spiral in the ocean! Then I turn around and see an amazing
view: a mountain with a navy blue, purple and orange glow. It seems to
be the in-between time of twilight or dawn. I get uncomfortable
because others have arrived at the scene. I worry about my cats. Then
I enter a dark room and there are people sleeping on the floor. They
are contemporary Egyptians. I see my black cat, Griffin, under a
chair. I startle one of the Egyptians and she rises with a cat on her
chest. Then the dream jumps to a co-worker in the art gallery. He says
that you can get AIDS through the computer.
When I shared the dream with my dream
group, I was startled with many "Aha's." I left the group
needing to paint the dream. This painting marks a change in my
process. Before I painted from the literal imagery and I let the
canvas unfold. This painting was from the "Aha" -- the
insight I received during dreamwork. I started painting and focusing
on the "Aha."
"Zen in the Mayan Rainforest"
was dream I had in the rainforests of Costa Rica. One night, we stayed
across the Arenal, a magnificent volcano. It was magical to see the
active volcano and to hear and feel the spirits of the forest. That
night I had a dream of a giant being that looked like an indigenous
Indian. The being was in the clouds and was looking down at me.
In the "Catacomb" dream I was
walking in a catacomb. I came around the corner and an entity was
shackled in a shelf-like area. It had a gold mask on and I could see
its eyes. I woke up startled and painted it that morning.
