About this Event
Surrealist dreamscapes: scrying and dreamwork to draw from the unconscious
Image: Gertrude Abercrombie, The Green Door, 1947 (source: Sullivan Gross)
In the leadup to this event, it will support your practice to start recording a dream journal each morning. If you have had any notable dreams in the past, record these too.
Meeting on the fourth Tuesday of the month, this session of Esoteric Etchings will delve into the inner world within our minds to access dreamscapes and visuals to inspire our artwork. We will work with the changing seasons to shape the themes of our sessions throughout the year.
Scrying is the esoteric practice of staring with a soft gaze to enter a light trache state and receive visions. With the rise of Freud and Jung's psychoanalysis, it was picked up by the surrealist as a way to tap into the unconscious mind and its hidden desires. Dream analysis, fixed point staring, fire scrying and liquid scrying were all used in various forms by noteable surrealists to inspire their works. Witch and surrealist Ithell Colquhoun adapted the practice of liquid scrying, scattering powdered charcoal on the surface of the water and capturing its patterns with floating paper to gaze at the resulting shapes for inspiration.
In this session, we will experiment with different scrying, automatic drawing and dreamwork practices to connect with our intuition as we draw. We will try different methods to explore the practice, including candle, black bowl and eyelid scrying. The goal of the session will be experimentation rather than creating technical finished pieces - using our imagination to play with shape, tone and colour and experiment with different styles and ideas. We will explore ideas for further development from dream recall, using dream journals as inspiration.
This session will be untutored by practicing artist, life model and esoteric enthusiast, Rebecca Collins-Thompson. While it is a facilitated session with exercises and prompts, it is untutored by design, allowing your practice to be self-led and focusing on unlearning expectations around how you should approach your art to find pure creative expression.
A slice of Lost Souls Pizza and a slush are included in your ticket price to be enjoyed in the break.
Basic drawing materials (paper and graphite pencils), will be provided. Please feel free to bring a sketchbook if you prefer, and any more exciting materials you'd like to experiment with.
If you have any questions please email [email protected].
i: @esoteric.etchings @rebecca.collins.thompson @lostsoulspizza
Event venue & nearby stays
Lost Souls Pizza Camden, 245 Eversholt Street, London, United Kingdom
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