World Dream Bank topic: Collaborative Dream Art

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Collaborative Dream Art

We think of dreams as utterly private. But in fact we often tell our closest friends, and that can provoke them to dream on the same topic. Or they may be inspired to create poetry or music or art based on your dream. This sort of collaboration is a fascinating process, and as I can testify from personal experience, often a fun one. We think of dreams as so personal no one else could ever capture them. Yet if you have no skills in a particular medium, you may get better results from a collaborator or a commissioned artist than from doing it yourself. The details may not be perfect, but the feeling is what matters.

At the least, it's an intriguing experiment to try.

Not quite all the art below is collaborative. A few are dreams about collaborative projects, like Clotho and the Pool of Dreams, Co-Drive, and Sculpting with Neil Gaiman.

RELATED TOPICS: true shared and telepathic dreams, in which the dream itself is a shared experience - artists and the arts in general - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

The World Dream Bank has 4000+ dreams plus 1000 more pages on dreamwork, shamanism, surrealism, fantasy, worldbuilding, creativity and genius. Site © Chris Wayan 2001-2022.

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	ABOVE SOCIETY: by Jayci Ferrimani; c. 1998, painting of a flying dream with a point I flew over a forest. I noted the trees were all the same, and told myself to remember this...
	ALTHEA'S MONEY DREAMS: by Althea; 1999/1/22, financial dreams provoked by... financial dreams? After reading a booklet of dreams about money by Wayan, Althea has four such dreams of her own challenging family ideas of class, gender, inheritance... and then practical investment advice!...
	AMERICAN WIDOW: by Alissa Torres; February 2002, a dream of her husband lost on 9/11 High-voltage traces of our lust and love flowed through our mattress nightly... until one night when the power surged and overflowed. Then I felt you...
	ANIMAL TRANSFIGURATION: by Edwin Muir; c.1920, a dream of an animal Resurrection A man with luminous hair leads me out to a field where all the world's animals but one gaze at heaven...
	BAND-AIDS: by Bagheera Pardus; c.1985, a lucid re-entered nightmare turned to joy. Giant snakes chased me. I go lucid, turn & slay one. As I woke, the snakes cried. So I re-entered... CAUTION: SNAKES, BEHEADING, REHEADING
	THE BEAR'S RIP: by Xanthe; dreamed 1990 or 1991; a lucidish dream with four sketches. A bear rips open my wall and guides me into a psychedelic space where I learn to see with new eyes...
	BIRD ASSASSIN: by Adam Shaw, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a no-kindness-goes-unpunished dream I'm a giant cartoon bird. I had to assassinate a friend--twelve times! Eleven times I killed him, but I spared him the twelfth. He said...
	BIRDMAN TEACHES "NO!": by Miriel as told to Wayan; 1985/7/11, a poem on flight/assertion training In the canyon behind our home, a steel-clawed birdman taught my brother and me to fly by shouting "NO!"...
	BLUE EAGLE: by Xanthe; 1989/10/6, a dream that said it wasn't for me I met a great blue eagle waiting to get into a library--but not to hunt books...
	BRANCHING WOMAN: by Patricia Garfield 1973/3/9, painted by Brenda Ferrimani; a recurrent dream I was at a dream conference and brought up a recurrent theme that others hadn't mentioned: multiple antlerlike branchings...
	BUNNY INTERVIEW: by Eva Belanger, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a guilt-relief dreamlet Reporters interview my pet rabbit without my permission. Have I neglected her? She says "Things have been pretty good." I'm relieved, but ask why she never spoke before...
	CAKE HORSE: by Colleen D. McManus, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a surreal warning dream? The cake horse resented my taking one slice out of him; but he let me. No second slice, though! He just laughed at me--through his bad teeth...
	CATFISH RESCUE: by Nick Munford, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a dream of shamanic kindness I run away. A car nearly hits me and I fall into the lake. But a kindly catfish drags me to an underwater phone booth...
	CELEBRITY ATTACK!: by Pierre Dalcourt, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a complex dream on celebrity As a mob of Hollywood stars beats me up, I ask for autographs--and get them. I sell the autographs to fund a statue of the beating--but with me smiling...
	CO-DRIVE: by Wayan; 2008/6/24, a dream of escape... through cross-gender cooperation? I escape a dark cell, cram with friends into a car and co-drive to LA, steering along with a woman in my lap... CAUTION: EITHER SEX SYMBOLISM, OR SOMETHING MORE SUBVERSIVE
	CLOTHO AND THE POOL OF DREAMS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; a 2015 painting weaving seven dreams (2014/5/4, 6/9, 7/1 & 9/4; 2015/5/23, 6/26 & 8/25) A portrait of Clotho, the Greek Fate who spins our life-threads, by a pool woven of my dreams from this time...
	COSMIC MAYPOLE: by Georganna Malloff; 1976-80s, dream-based drawings and totem poles I dreamed all the creatures of the world were dancing around a maypole. My friends and I sculpted a totem pole from the dream...
	CROW RIDE (ONE-WAY TICKET): by J.P., c.1920, a trickster dream A crow offers me a ride. I hang on tight and he flies me up into a beech tree where lots of other crows perch and talk. Then he flies me to another tree and leaves me. I think "How am I gonna get down?"...
	DAWN'S DREAM: by Dawn Z and Wayan; 2.3MB (MP3 + lyrics), 1999/4/1, a dream rock song My friend Dawn dreamed she crawled into a dumpster to live, and at last felt at home, secure...
	THE DEVIL'S TRILL: by Giuseppe Tartini; c.1713, a musical inspiration dream. I sold my soul to the Devil. On an impulse, I handed him my fiddle. To my wonder, he played a sonata of exquisite beauty. When I woke I retained only echoes...
	DISNEY'S MAKE-OUT DATE: by Andrea Rogers, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a creepy dream I'm in a car with Walt Disney. A blonde comes in out of the rain. He promises to make her a star, and puts his hands... CAUTION: NOT GRAPHIC, JUST UGH
	DRAGON ME: by Preston Young and Katie Hofgard; 2005/2/14? a collaborative dream-portrait. Preston dreams he's a dragon and his girlfriend Katie drew his portrait from his account
	THE DREAM: dreamed by Yadwigha, painted by Henri Rousseau; 1910, collaborative dream art Rousseau's painting of a woman on a red sofa in a glorious jungle really was dream-based--just not his dream... CAUTION: NUDITY, SLACKING
	DREAM CAUSED BY THE FLIGHT OF A BEE AROUND A POMEGRANATE A SECOND BEFORE WAKING by Gala Dalí 1943? painted by Salvador Dalí 1944; a supposedly instantaneous dream. Dalí's wife Gala naps, but a bee wakes her--and her dream instantly magnifies bee into tigers! After all, both have fur, sharp bits, black & gold stripes... CAUTION: BREASTS; BAD DREAM THEORIES.
	ELEPHANT UPSIDE DOWN: by Xanthe, c2001, a surreal underworld-dream In the underworld, soldiers chase fundamentalists in underwear, as leopards stare. The upside-down elephant plugs the exit. We can only escape if we ~~write~~ right the situation...
	EXUBERANT BALLOONS: by Pauline Ramsey, c. 1985, a sudden joyful dream image. I stood on a bridge in winter. A skater shot out from the arch beneath, trailing a rainbow of balloons...
	FAKE IT!: by Electra Johannes and Patagia; 2007/9/22 and 2007/92/3, linked dreams. Patagia dreams she fakes a Hindu rite, causing Electra to dream she fakes leadership in a refugee band. But are they faking?
	FIGURE DRAWING: AND AT ALL TIMES BE SERIOUS: by Wayan; 1995/3/6?, figure study. She tried to find a pose so melodramatically goofy the sketchers couldn't take her seriously... but no. CAUTION: ART-SCHOOL NUDITY
	FIGURE DRAWING: FERNS: by Wayan, 1995/4/17, crayon figure-study Evangeline the model arranged pillows and potted ferns and told us to "Just picture the pillows as rocks and a ferny cascade." I did... CAUTION: NUDITY
	FIGURE DRAWING: NINA IS A TV: by Wayan; 1995/5/8 studio drawing, crayon Nina the model's weirdest pose yet, as a TV with rabbit-ear antennae... CAUTION: MILD NUDITY
	FIGURE DRAWING: NOW HOLD THAT POSE: by Wayan; 1989/11/14 digital sketch of model clowning. Shasé liked absurd, impossible poses, and she held them heroically... CAUTION: SILLY NUDITY
	FIGURE DRAWING: STARE DOWN THE SHOE: by Wayan; 1995/7/24, crayon studio sketch A confrontation between the top predators on this planet: Evangeline and her boot... CAUTION: MILD NUDITY
	FLAMES: by John, c. 1973, as told by Gayle Delaney; an induced transcendent dream I asked my dreams if I should leave my alcoholic wife. I dreamt we were conjoined flames, green and blue. I awoke hopeful, and knew I'd stay. For eight months my wife struggled. Now she's been sober five years...
	FLIGHT, MARGARET, MOUSE, DOG: by Paul Nash, dreamed 1895-9 + Feb. 1913; art by Dave McKean As a child, landscape artist Paul Nash dreamed of flying over the countryside of southern England. But he was threatened by the legendary Black Dog...
	FLOCK WISDOM: by Alder; 1958, a magic comic frustration dream My eighth grade class is a flock of birds migrating south for the winter, but we don't migrate the easy way...
	THE FLYING HORSES OF MIEN MO: by Jack Kerouac, Nov/Dec? 1957, a persistent numinous image I'm in Mexico. The mountain of the gods looms over Coyacan. Around it, silhouetted on the rising moon, wheel terrifying griffinlike winged horses wearing capes...
	FOUR-EYED BABY: by Xanthe; 1989?, a Jungian dream I met some little hunchbacks in the woods who showed me a newborn baby growing from the moss...
	FOUR-LEGGED MONK: by Centaurquad; June 1983; a sexy transformation dream My boyfriend's a student in an exotic monastery. But under his robe, he's gotten a bit exotic himself... CAUTION: SEXUAL DREAM
	FUNERAL FOODFIGHT: by Dan Schmidt, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a revenant dream As they lower me into my grave, mourners don't throw dirt but--cottage cheese? I toss it back, starting a huge foodfight. I climb out to join the fun. Only the poor pastor looks lost...
	GIFTSHOP OF THE DAMNED: by Carmen Knoke, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a comic nightmare It was Christmas and we needed to buy gifts. But the shopping dragged on and when at last we went to the register, the sales clerk laughed...
	HUMMINGBIRD HANDS: by Ranjit Bhatnagar, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a freed-by-music dream A mind-control drug urges her to strangle her loved ones, but to beat the curse she busies her fluttering hands with bluegrass banjo...
	HUMMINGBIRD MEME: by Althea; 2022/1/14, a dream of 15 minutes of fame I rescue a hummingbird who drinks nectar from my ear. It becomes an Internet star. But then a girl rides a waterslide with her tits showing, and my meme is over ... CAUTION: CARTOON BREASTS
	I DIDN�T DIVE IN: by Herbert Read; before 1938, a dream-poem experiment. I watched her dive into the lake... and fail to come up. Her golden cloak floated on the water. I hesitated just a moment, and...
	I, MEATBALL: by Vladimir Cole, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a warning nightmare? I'm chased by spaghetti, snared, sprinkled with parmesan. My hungry classmates loom, and my best friend says...
	JASHA EXPLAINS DEATH: by Wayan; ca. 1974/10/1; a 10-page painted comic with recurrent dream figures Deep Duck's interview with Jasha the Krelkin goes rogue, as she urges tossing out human habits like... death? CAUTION: REDWOOD-SPRITE SEX, PEEING ON TREES, DRUNK DUCK
	JESSE'S DEATH: drawn by Joey Epstein from her father-in-law's dream; 1983/7/31, an apparent psychic dream As Joey's infant daughter Jesse died, her father-in-law woke up 500 miles away and announced, "The baby..."
	KOLCHEC: by Al Davison (Jan.1977-1978) & Sara Welponer 2000, sketches of a shared dream-figure AL repeatedly drew a bizarre, recurring dream-guide named Kolchec; years later he met SARA, who'd painted her dream-guide, a distinctive spook named--oh, take a guess... CAUTION: WILL DISTURB ESP SKEPTICS
	LAURIE ANDERSON SHENANIGANS: by Larissa King, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a surreal dream I'm watching MTV. Laurie Anderson gets inside my remote control. I try to change channels and she turns my head into an apple. I grope for a potato peeler, and carve a new mouth...
	LION EYES: by Patagia; 2007/11/??, a serious dream-prank. Lions trap me in an African cave with only coffee, paper and pens! Is this what it takes to get me to write?
	LIZARD HUSBAND: by Xanthe, 1990/8/30; a nightmare marriage. I visit the underworld court of the Lizard King, but I can't leave: he makes me Queen... CAUTION: MARITAL RAPE (NON-GRAPHIC)
	LUCID FLIGHT: by Lisa Reich; March 2003, an ecstatic lucid dream of flight. I flew as if part of the air--an otherworldly freedom so exquisite I wonder if it's attainable at all in earthly existence...
	MANDALA OF THE EIGHT DREAMERS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2007/9/16, painting of a group's dreams Our dream-group's dreams had a lot of imagery in common: circles, groups, meditation. I fused them into this piece...
	MARIANNE'S DREAM: by Marianne Hunt c.1817, as told by Percy Shelley; a dream-poem. A black anchor floats in the sky to the east. Impossible cities rise on mountaintops, only to erupt in flame. The sea rises to drown them. On a plank, I ride the flood. In the ruins, I find angelic statues--who wake...
	MIDORI'S DREAM: by Midori Yamane, as told and drawn by her friend Igort, 2015. I see a shop in Kyoto in the early 1900s. The old woman running it is calm, with precise movements and sure hands. A voice says "That lady is Igort"...
	MUPPET WITNESS: by Bill Tjaden, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; an absurd dream I work in a witness protection program. We hide the Muppet on the bottom of an empty swimming pool, hand him a long straw, and fill it with...
	MY MOTHER'S CLOSET: by Rachel Hadas, c. 2000; a dream-poem provoking a 2008/9/16 dream by Chris Wayan I was in my mother's closet, trying on her outfits, and trapped in Hamlet, too...
	MYRNA, LOOK AHEAD: by Myrna, drawn by her daughter Joey Epstein; before 1988, a dream of ghost advice After Myrna�s husband died, one night she felt him behind her in bed, and he whispered...
	NIGHT FLIGHT: by Catherine as told to Wayan; c. 1962, a recurrent childhood flying dream. My friend Catherine dreamed she was a flying mare with golden hooves. But in real life, she lost them...
	NIGHTMARE STUDIO: by Gary Panter, 2003, a 5-page comic of his lonely surreal dream world (plus a 2018/8/31 dream by Wayan provoked by Panter's dream art) Rather than a dream narrative, this is a tour through Gary's common dreamscapes-- forgotten places, empty streets. Or ones you wish were empty...
	PAPER BAG: by Pete Peterson, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a comic dreamlet God issued me a paper bag to go over my head & protect my eyes when facing him--at first. But as I advanced spiritually, I tore...
	PEGASUS LANDS: by Roswila; early 1990s? A collaborative haiga [picture-poem] of a dream Haiku by Roswila of a dream of meeting a winged horse, illustrated by her late friend Janet...
	PRESIDENTIAL TACO: by Robert Adams, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a dream farce I botched President Clinton's taco. And on the way home, I fell in the river. Luckily, Jesse Jackson happened by and pulled me out, restoring my faith in...
	PROPHETIC DREAM OF BUDDHA'S FATHER: by King Suddhodana, c.563 BCE? an uneasy dream Suddhodana dreams of great upheavals; no courtier can interpret the dream. An ascetic claims the upheaval will be for the good, then... turns into an owl?! CAUTION: PERHAPS NOT ENTIRELY ACCURATE
	PSYCHIC CAT: by Scott Bartell, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a comic dreamlet Our neighbors keep dropping by with gifts and favors for our cat. Why? He'd gained magical powers by amassing 10,000 dead mice...
	THE RED SPHERE: by Madeline; 2006/12/13, twin (diagnostic? psychic?) nightmares Calmly, I watch a girl trapped in a lab try to escape, and die; and watch a man lose his head to a hungry thing... CAUTION: GRUESOME
	RUNNING BIRD: by Alder; 1953, a kinetic nightmare with double selves. I'm a flightless bird hopping down a line of marble columns rising from the sea, as they topple behind me...
	SCULPTING WITH NEIL GAIMAN: by Rick Veitch; 1994 or before; a complex predictive dream I take my friend Neil Gaiman to a park where we sculpt a giant horned head. Months later we collaborate on a graphic novel. The course of the project's full of echoes from the dream...
	SHE DREAMS OF BELLY DANCING: by Daughn Lee and Roswila; 1999 (2000?), a collaborative dream-poem Alternating stanzas by very different poets, based on Roswila's dream of bellydancing in the streets...
	SLITHY: by Xanthe; 1989-90, a recurrent dream image An amber stream recurring in my dreams led me to meet a huge, strange being, Slithy...
	SPIRAL LAUGHTER: by Alder; 1953, a child's feverdream The world is a whirlpool, a black and white spiral pulling me down toward a black hole, and it's laughing...
	STAGE FAILURE: by Dana Hughes, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a dream of surrender I'm on stage. I have to sing. They just stare. I try dancing. Stony silence. At last, a second me leads me offstage, saying "You can only fail so many times"...
	THE SUMMONERS: by Jim Shaw; between 1987 & Jan. 1995, a mysterious dream Two nude women (drawn Wally Wood style) dance ritually in a forest, summoning a worm-snake-dragon with a ring of fangs... CAUTION: NUDITY
	SURRENDER TO THE WHITE BUFFALO: by Kathleen Sullivan, 1970s?; a nightmare turned shamanic A gigantic herd of buffalo stampede toward me. I panic, then surrender in peace to what is surely my death...
	TED'S DEATH: drawn by Joey Epstein from her aunt's mid-1980s dream; a psychic dream Ted died of CO2 poisoning in Hong Kong. His mom dreamed he came to tell her it was painless. To prove he was real, he told her...
	TWENTY-SIX LETTERS, or, A Complete Summary of Poesy; by Cory & Wayan, early Aug. 1992; a haiku slam You get 26 dice with letters on every face. Roll them all. Your haiku must use every letter. Go!
	U.F.O. P.O.V.: by Steve, recurring dreams, spring 1966 to 1971, as told by his friend Barry Windsor-Smith Night. A London suburb. A UFO big as a city block looms over us. It's seen all over South England. Yet we go blank-- forget! Though not quite--for years after, Steve has recurring dreams. When he tells me one, I recall the same event... CAUTION: INTENSE UFO EXPERIENCE
	UNCLE MAC'S SECRET GENIUS: by Andrea McFarland, 2023/1/22, a surreal dream My uncle Mac has a secret scheme to free us all from the Rat Race, but his dancing mouse-headed robots (and climate change) get out of hand...
	WEREWOLF PARADOX: by Garvin Jabusch, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; an ironic nightmare I must outrun the rising moon so I don't turn into a wolf and kill my friends, but only a werewolf is swift enough to...
	ZEN INSURANCE: by Anonymous #38, art by Jesse Reklaw; pre-2000; a mystical frustration dream My Zen master keeps asking me koans. But every riddle is about insurance forms. I always reply "I am thirsty." He asks another. It goes on forever...