IN Your Dreams

In Your Dreams brought together over 30 artists from Canada, Australia, and Germany in an exhibition of new work on the subject of dreams, reverie, and the liminal world. Restricted to a small traveling box, the artwork of In Your Dreams incorporated painting, printmaking, sculpture, collage, jewelry, and fiber art. As with our dreams, the boxes reveal a unique glimpse into the mind of their creators.

“The thirty works represented in this exhibition are deeply felt mediations on dreams and dreaming. They challenge, they delight, they celebrate and they mourn. In the best sense, they enrich our understanding of ourselves and others not in any narrow sense as Canadians or Germans or Australians but as members of the human family.” John Thompson, Australian curator and art history writer

Winnipeg-based artist Karen Cornelius was the guest curator of the Canadian component of In Your Dreams. Canadian participants include Winnipeg artists Michael Boss, Agatha Doerksen, Craig Love, Bonnie Marin, Diana Thorneycroft and Southwestern Manitoban artists Fay Jelly, Shirley Brown, Elaine Rounds, Barb Flemington. 

Helen Sanderson was the Australian guest curator. Australian participants include Liz Jeneid, Bev Jensen, Helen Mueller, Katharine Nix, Rosemary Penfold, Caitlin Sheedy, Jonathan Tse, Corrie Wright, Penny Carey Wells,

Lene Rose Gruner was the German guest curator. German participants include Wanda Aniko-Lützner, Sibylle Burr, Sylvia Farago, Elke Gaiser, Christine Huss, Hildegard Koldin, Renate Quast, Karina Stangle, and Gerlinde Stingl. 

The collection was exhibited in Canada, Australia and Germany.

Canada – Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba & the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery

Australia – Rockhampton Regional Art Gallery, Logan Art Gallery, Albury City Regional Art Gallery, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery, Bundaberg Arts Centre, Cairns Regional Gallery

Germany – Amerika Haus, Lange Nacht der Museen, Schlossle Lenningen

Hope Interrupted

Dreams of hope are dreamed for our daughters.  Yet our sexualized and media saturated culture puts incredible pressure on our daughters to measure up to a virtually unattainable standard of appearance, to be sophisticated, to use chemicals (drugs) and to be sexually active.  In a society such as ours which treats women as objects and allows high rates of violence, sexual harassment and sexual assault, girls can become alienated from their developing bodies and form a distorted sense of self in their struggle to gain some power and protection while negotiating adolescence.

Words, especially harassing words meant to instil fear, heighten bodily discomfort and diminish the sense of self, do not slide harmlessly away but are slowly absorbed into a girls developing identity and become an essential part of how she perceives herself.

The text in the piece Hope Interrupted was written by 12-14 year old girls. It was collected anonymously. The text was transferred to the pillowcases using the heat and weight of my sleeping head.