a dream project

I have been collecting brief descriptions of recent actual dreams, all of which are included here. I am not interested in analyzing them, but simply curious about the experiences we have while our minds and bodies are at rest.


In the process of collecting these dream stories, I was inspired to make A Thousand Threads, a limited edition, screen-printed book. It contains short, meditative poems I wrote by interweaving the dream fragments of others with my own dream imagery.


This project was part of The Spaces in Between, a solo exhibition curated by Susanna Meiers, February 14 – March 11, 2011, at the El Camino College Art Gallery in Torrance, CA.


To see all of the book pages or contribute a dream story, please go to www.betsylohrerhall.com. Thanks!




Thursday, February 17, 2011

Don Dolan -- The Chase


The only dream I can recall is one from maybe 1994.  This happens to be the most vivid dream I've ever had and the only one I truly believe to understand the reason for its existence.

I was being chased by a monster, a gorilla-like creature, and no matter what barriers I leapt or which direction I turned, the monster seemed able to stay within a few feet of me.  I ran, hysterical, from certain death at the monster's hands were he to catch me.  Suddenly, a tuba-like protrusion appeared on the landscape, quite large at the top, and certainly big enough for me to slide into, but not the monster.  It was my escape.  As I looked down into the tube I noticed that the tube narrowed, flattened actually, to a size I wasn't certain I could slide through.  I wished I had not gained weight.  Passing that narrow place led to escape.  I had little time to evaluate the situation; I had to make a snap decision and my life would either be saved, or the monster could reach in and pull me back out if I got stuck in the narrow space.  I jumped in, head first, and I have no recollection of the result.  I simply can't recall anything beyond the jump into the abyss.  I think I may have made it through.  I know I did in life, and that's what counts. 

Don Dolan
Ashland, Oregon

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