Born of a Dream

Five paintings, each one first seen in a dream.

Every painting in this series began as a dream. They picture things no camera can reach: the earth before anyone built on it, a sky full of stars over a place far from home, a lamp burning in a niche, the view of an angel searching for the Qur'an, and a place Hanan hopes to stand in one day and has only seen with her eyes closed.

An old way of seeing holds that dreams come from a world between this one and the unseen, where meanings put on shapes so the heart can recognize them. These paintings keep those shapes. The clay is pressed, carved, and layered until something seen only in sleep has a surface you could run your hand across.

Nur Ala Nur, a wide painting in an ornate gilded frame. A starry night sky with a full moon and swirling gold and blue clouds over sculpted copper dunes.

A Starry Night, an arched gilded frame holding a night sky of white swirling clouds and a pale moon above textured orange clay mountains.

Seeking Knowledge, a painting in a black frame. A glowing lamp and a stack of books sit inside an arched niche cut into a textured clay wall.

Angel's View, a tall arched panel of rough clay. A green prayer niche frames a pink rounded form, seen as if from above.

Home, a wide painting of a dark blue night sky with a crescent moon over deep brown clay desert ridges, with a green prayer mat laid across the sand.

A question to sit with

What do you know to be true that you have never seen?

Collecting, commissions, workshops, and exhibitions.

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