Gloria Sturzenacker serves on the IASD Arts Committee. She began her career as a public radio reporter, later working in magazine editing, graphics production and graphic design. Now a freelance editor specializing in academia, arts and culture, she joined IASD in 1997. Trained under Montague Ullman, she has presented widely on dreams, synchronicity and dream-inspired art. She is the author of Beyond “I’m Not an Artist”: Making Marks from Dreams.

Beyond “I’m Not an Artist”:

Making Marks from Dreams

Gloria Sturzenacker, IASD Arts Committee

I joined the Arts Committee a few years ago when it was looking for editorial help. That's what I do for a living: editing. But I'm "not an artist." Feeling inadequate to make a drawing or painting stops me. At IASD conferences, I've run into folks who seem even more stymied; they show up for an art workshop but flee when the art making begins.

My dream journaling has required writing accurate detail. But that gets tedious. That and low recall have made my journaling spotty. I've struggled to think of a simpler method that would satisfy me, and recently, mark-making—a concept I've encountered in editing art criticism —has been flitting through my mind.

I was delighted to wake with both a potential method in mind and a dream to try it on. I could make a visual record of individual elements: color, shapes, texture, and so on. Doing that might help break the ice between me and art-making.

It surprised me how good it felt to make a simple “art" record of that day's dream. I couldn't stop smiling.

Watch for future “non-artist" IASD art events.