My First Exibition / And a Website!

So, I've been incredibly busy preparing for my illustration show (I hope you call can stop by and see it!).

Admittedly, this means that some of my design work has been put on hold... especially because it will not be showing until next semester.

However, I have decided that I want to create a website that encompasses both the illustration and design part of my project. I have found a little time to start working on it. That is what the screen-caps are (above). This will be a way for me to organize my thoughts, as well as a way for me to better publicize and market the work as an overarching whole.

I am currently in Web Authoring I, so my HTML and CSS skills are still limited. I am using a template at the moment, but as I learn more I plan to go into the code and alter the design.

Bubble Sheet

Does this look sterile enough? I know that I need to fix the numbers...

Questions - The Right Direction?

Here are some questions that are part of my exam. These ones are pretty solid and filled with information, but as I progress through the test they will become more abstract and "dada" inspired.

Starting to Design the Exam

The next dream theme that I am tackling is the impossible exam/test.

Here's a screen cap to give you an idea of the sterility of the design, and the type of questions I'm asking.

Brainstorming

I've been thinking a lot about specific dream themes, and which one I want to tackle next. Though I haven't quite figured out the next "theme" piece, I have figured out a separate, more general "dream" piece that I think would be worthwhile.

I want to create a book of photographs that I have taken that I consider to be "dreamy" or "dream-like". Images that I have captured that evoke the memory of my own dreams may help my audience experience what my individual dream world is like.

I might integrate them with typography. I might not.

A few examples:

What do you think?

A Nice Photo of the Tooth Jar

I did a photo shoot for my tooth jar... Just wanted to share an image with a mockup of some less invasive typography. It would be neat to show it like this in the gallery...


(update) I did some drawings of teeth, but didn't feel like I got a whole lot out of it:

Playing with Fonts

Just playing with some fonts for my package design... does anything stand out? I like them all for different reasons...

Sweet Dreams

Finished the "cover" to my jar:

More teeth!

More teeth... these ones I found online for cheap.

I will begin working with them over the weekend, and will have some more to show on Tuesday.

See you all then!

"Found" Some Teeth!

I got some teeth! Something to actually start working with.

I have more (3 full sets, 80+ acrylic teeth) coming in the mail as well.

Freaked out yet?

TEETH!

Researching Teeth in Dreams: Theories on Meaning-

• loss of power or control
• castration anxiety (Freud)
• misfortune
• wishing to be punished, masochism
• warfare (Chinese)
• death of an aspect of a person's psychology
• "losing face" or loss of identity
• fear of ugliness or becoming old and/or unattractive

--

What is apparent in MY tooth-related dreams?

1. DREAM 97: dislocated jaw, too much pressure on teeth, tooth caving under pressure
2. DREAM 120: all teeth become loose, they all fall out, try to push them back into sockets (biting/bearing down on them to do so), holding my teeth in my hands
3. DREAM 205: feel that molars are too big, closing my mouth crushes them, they fall out onto my palm, bloody paper towels
4. DREAM 210: back left molar falls out, lots of blood, then front teeth fall out, a nerve strand hangs from socket, it is pulled (very painful)
5. UNKNOWN (not documented in journals) DREAM 1: teeth fall out, put back into sockets backwards (roots out)
6. UNKNOWN DREAM 2: teeth crumble in mouth, spitting out little pieces

Notable Commonalities-

• teeth being too big/ not fitting/ under pressure
• teeth in my hands
• blood/pain

A quick sketch that I have rattling around in my head for my first piece... a package design for "Sweet Dreams".

Diving Deeper into Dream Themes

Hi class.

I have updated the "Dream Survey Results" post with actual numbers of votes for each theme. The actual count from my journal is yet to come as I need a bit more time to paw through all 220+ of them! You can visit the updated survey post here.

In the mean time I have purchased a rather interesting book about dreams titled "Get a Grip on Dreams". I have been looking through it and making note of interesting facts about dreams (and the common themes that fill them) that might be of use to me for my project.

I am also starting to mentally plan out my first physical piece. With the help of these I'm hoping to create a really visceral and eerie piece about the common "losing my teeth" dream. It may not have been the most popular theme, but I do feel that it is one that I can evoke a strong reaction to in a successful way.

That's all for now.

Dana

Dream Survey Results

Now that I have nearly all of the surveys back, I have a pretty clear image of what we dream about as a class. Thank you all for your timely responses!

Here are the results of the survey:

Themes in order of most to least popular (multiple topics under the same bullet received equal amounts of votes, crossed out type received no votes). Updated on January 24th with number of votes!)

• Being chased/chasing someone 9
• Being physically attacked 8
• Famous people, Flying, Falling, Sex (positive experience) 7
• Dead loved ones, dying or being dead yourself 5
• Losing your teeth, Swimming/Water, Being lost 4
• Modes of transportation 3
• Taking an exam/test, Sex (negative experience) 2
• Public Nakedness, Giving birth, Machines failing you 1
• Changing sex/ being the opposite gender, Needing to use the bathroom 0

I enjoyed your responses of additional themes (all of which are also in my dream journal):

• Tornadoes
• Borrowing/Stealing
• Being ignored/Not being heard
• Books
• Pregnancy
• Working
• Aliens
• War
• Survival in a post-apocalyptic world

 Something I am thinking about: With the exception of positive dreams about sex, we as a class mostly dream about negative themes.