Art as a Gateway for Exploring Dream
Imagery
Marilyn Fowler, MA, is an
assistant professor and the current director of the Dream Studies
Program at John F. Kennedy University (JFKU). She is also the
director of the MA program in Consciousness and Transformative
Studies at JFKU and adjunct professor in the Graduate School of
Professional Psychology and the School of Management at JFKU.
Abstract
This workshop presents an
innovative approach to dreamwork in a group setting, developed by
Marilyn Fowler. This dream group approach is based in Jungian
psychology, exploring Jung’s idea of “finding the images which are
concealed in the [dream’s] emotions” (Jung: Memories, Dreams,
Reflections)
Jung was a great
believer in embellishing his dreams with drawings, finding that
drawing could tap the unconscious in a way that writing alone did
not provide. He found this particularly effective in exploring the
emotional content of a dream.
Drawing on Jung’s
experience, participants in this workshop will be encouraged take
on a dream “as if it were their own”, paying particular attention
to the emotions generated by particular images in the dream.
Participants are then asked to draw the image(s) that stand out
for them personally, amplifying the image as needed to bring out
the significance. Group members are encouraged to draw
spontaneously as much as possible, allowing their unconscious to
supply meaning to their drawing. (“Artistic” renderings are not
required. Drawings are only to convey meaning.) Group members
share their drawings with the group, giving the dreamer the
benefit of their individual and collective insights about the
dream.
This approach was
pioneered by Fowler in the Dream Studies Program at John F.
Kennedy University and has been taught in various settings,
including Dream Studies classes, private workshops and the IASD
2004 regional conference at JFKU.
