To read Elaine Langerman's Resume, click here!

Gail Enns (co-curator of Green Chalk): Do you remember your dreams?

Elaine Langerman: I know I dream every night, but it is seldom to rare that I remember them. I want to remembermore of them, I even bought some mugwort that I keep under my pillow or beside my bed which is supposed to make dreams more vivid. But I have been unable to recall them as I would like to.

GE: Do you record dreams? How? Into a tape recorder, a journal, written, visually?

EL: I do record my dreams- -particularly those that seem especially vivid, intricate and interesting. I keep them in a handwritten journal, and now I’ve begun to put them into a file in my computer. For the dream text, I use black type and for the commentary I use red type. I also add (in red) what is currently happening In my life, the big things, and those which might relate to the specific content of the dream itself. I would like to begin to add Images, but It seems I am too involved in studio work to devote the time it would take to do this. Since I have just begun this project, perhaps as I go along, images will begin to come on their own.

GE: Do you analyze your dreams?

EL: Sometimes I do. I’ve also asked others to comment on their content. Of course the Talmud says: "A dream is its own interpretation.” Although, it also says: “A dream unexamined Is like a letter unopened.” Sometimes I get messages that are fairly direct.

GE: Do you discuss them with anyone else?

EL: Perhaps I’ll tell my husband a dream, If he’s in it, but, usually, if I have a concern, I’ll go to a psychic or a dream worker.

GE: Are you able to glean insights from them that are of value to your everyday waking life?

EL: Yes, in fact I’ve gotten an insight from a dream last May, which I know is VERY valuable, but which I’ve yet to implement directly- - though I think I will use this idea indirectly.

GE: Do you use any of the Images in your artwork?

EL: Usually not directly. But on occasion I have actually made an illustration of my dream. A few years ago I made a painted book of 14 dreams--one of my dreams and 13 dreams of other people who lent them to me. It was a wonderful experience.

GE: Do you dream in black & white or color?

EL: I dream in color--always.

GE: What do you usually dream about? Or whom?

EL: My dreams are usually anxiety dreams. I am late for something. I need to use the telephone and don’t have the phone number of whomever I need to reach. I am unprepared to something I am trying to do. I am not dressed adequately (It’s a long time since I’ve had a naked dream.). I am somewhere with Sam, it’s time to go home, but he’s left without telling me, etc., etc.

GE: Did you ever have or do you ever now have nightmares? How are they scary? Did you have recurring childhood nightmares? Have youlor do you have recurring dreams?

EL: Although I have anxiety dreams, I don’t presently experience nightmares. As a child starting school, I used to have a recurring nightmare: I am walking to school. I walk to the corner of First Road South, turn right for a short block, then left onto Glebe Road. It is a huge wide road, and as I walk down it to school I see what looks like a huge, grey/black, whirling ball of stuff (rather like a tornado, but the shape is round, not funnel). Accompanying it as it moves toward me, is a very loud bass drum roll. I walk, and it moves closer to me. I am TERRIFIED. I awaken, still scared to death.

GE: Have you ever dreamed that you are actually making an object or a painting in a dream?

EL: Yes. Once I dreamt that I was making a tiny sculpture. It consisted of a snake under a blanket in the woods. I got up in the morning and made the piece.

GE: Have you ever received warnings in your dreams?

El: Hot directly, but in a general way, they have warned me that I am unprepared about something in my life.

GE: Do you dream of important people in your life who have died, i.e. your parents?

EL: Not often. I’ve dreamt of my mother occasionally. But it is unusual that I dream of dead people in my family.

GE: Do you feel that your dreams are more important to your life than they were when you were younger?

EL: I feel that my dreams have always been important to me, especially since I have been paying more attention to them.

GE: Have you ever had lucid dreams?

EL: Yes. I can still remember some dreams after many years. And I still remember the yellow taxi from my Japanese dream. Many times I have been aware that I am dreaming In the dream.

GE: What were your childhood dreams like? Can you remember them? Do you still dream about the same things?

EL: I don’t remember my childhood dreams, except for the nightmare described above, but I believe that my dreams have changed. They have more to do with my body and my discomfort with it and my anxiety about dressing it appropriately.

GE: How do your dreams connect with your creativity/artwork.

EL: The way I approach my visual work, my life and my dreams is that all of these are a continuation of each other. Life is a dream. They are all one. Some bits are rational, but most bits are Irrational, miraculous- - quite amazing. All three “areas” are calibrated synchronistically. Aside from this general view, sometimes I Incorporate a specific dream Image into my work. Mostly, the inspiration for my work Is a continuation of my life. All these activities are seamless. The apparent differences in these activities are simply a result of the diverse lenses each permits me to use to view what is before my eyes and my heart.

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