Dream Map : Meet the Artists - Lori Wells

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As our Dream Map Project* unfolds, I will be featuring artists taking part in this collaborative piece of art. Today we hear from Lori Wells, whose Dream is called “The Woman with Three Names” and was made with cotton sheeting, wool felt, and cotton Sachiko thread.

Here is what Lori says about her Dream: "In dream circle, when I brought this dream, I was asked, 'what are your 3 sacred names?' Without thinking, I replied, 'Laurel, born of Michael, the Sound of Deep Water.' My given name is Lori Michelle Wells. I translated Laurel, Protect, and Water Song into Norse and stitched the words in an Anglo-Saxon version of runes. Here we are, my positive shadow helper and I, stitching sacred symbols into my art studio, which is now called the Enchanted Hatchery. 


I am decorating the outside of my art studio with a woman. She’s helping me sew a sacred design right into the wood. I never used to like her much, but now I am grateful for her knowledge of meaning and magical signs and methods. I get a text with from my dad about our ancestry. I take her with me to meet him. “How should I introduce you,” I ask. 'By all 3 of my names, of course,' she replies. Common, indigenous, and sacred. That’s the way it’s done."








Interview with Lori:

How did you come to textile work, and what is the meaning of textile art in your life? 

 

My mom taught me to sew when I was about 10 years old. For much of my youth, I made my own clothes. I discovered embroidery in the seventies and embellished my jeans and decorated denim shirts for the people in my family. And then I stopped. For decades. 

 

When I began again, I made pillows and soft sculpture and fanciful purses. It became a way to express the magic I experience in the natural world.

 

Now I mostly embroider on paper, creating art from my dreams. For the dream map, I have returned to fabric.



Can you share the significance of the dream map for you?

 

I am thrilled to have my work sewn into a map of dreams from all over the world. I can’t wait to discover what synchronicities might arise!


 

Do you have a dreamwork practice (i.e. writing a dream journal)?

 

I have been keeping dream journals for around 10 years now and have been part of a weekly dream circle for almost as long.








What impact have dreams had in your creative journey?

 

Five or six years ago a dream circle mate urged me to enter the Dream Art Show at the International Association for the Study of Dreams Conference. I couldn’t imagine how to express my dreams in paint, so I didn’t enter. Then I had a dream where I was making relief carvings of sacred women out of fallen trees. If you look at my work in paper, you will see that everything is 3 dimensional. Dreams have had a huge impact!

 

I began to embroider the paper because of another dream where the message was, “through embellishment I say my prayers.” It feels like a sacred act or like a profound honoring of the messages I receive in the night when I take the time to stitch.

 

I have, after many years, found my calling in making dream art. Last year my work won first prize at the International Dream Conference which was a wonderful acknowledgment that my dreams are leading my creative journey.



What is your creative method (intuitive, planned, responsive? etc)

 

I think about the important symbols and characters of the dream and then begin with a very rough sketch. My figures are jointed and every piece can be moved. So, I would say my creative method is responsive. I listen to the piece as it emerges and create accordingly.


 

What is the importance of nature for you?

 

Nature is everything to me. It’s why I make art, it’s what I celebrate in my art, and I am always praying to hear Nature’s voice speaking to me when I dream.

 






Can you share the best advice you've ever received?

 

Someone once told me that it is absolutely essential to get your work out into the world. Otherwise, they said, if you allow it to fill up your own home, you won’t have the space, both physically and emotionally, to keep making more art. 

 

With this advice in mind, I have always been looking for ways to share my work, even when it scares me to do so.

 

Thank you for giving me another chance to send a piece of my work out into the world!


Find Lori on Instagram @lorimike7


*About the Dream Map Project: with artist Sofie Dieu, we are mapping dreams worldwide using embroidery, appliqué, stitching... 
It might be a recent dream or a dream received in your childhood. Perhaps it was so powerful that it still lingers in you. As active dreamers, Sofie and I invite you to share it in an embroidery work. The world needs to dream again!


GUIDELINES:
Each artist creates a 30cm x 30cm textile work that depicts a significant dream they have received. 
We will assemble the selected artworks to form a dream map. This map will then be exhibited in Scotland and Melbourne, Australia.
More details on Instagram @dream_and_stitch_project 







Enjoy our other Dream Map artist features