Drawing on the Dream

Finding My Way by Art

How does a twenty-first-century woman living in rural southern Oregon enter the spiritual realm of the Dreamtime and what impact does it have on her life? Denise Kester is an artist and art teacher whose inner dream life is populated by a host of profound characters (brown bears, black crows, blue monkeys, sea turtles, and rabbits among others) who guide Denise through a difficult year of artistic creation as she stares down at a deadline for an important exhibit. Drawing on the Dream is part instruction for artists but even more a profound illumination on the way of the artist. The book includes Kester's brilliant monoprints in all stages of process to completion and the stories or poetry that inspired or illuminate the work. Kester writes about the struggles and the triumphs that occur as the deadline approaches. She asks the question “do I make the art or does the art make me?”

In her Foreword, bestselling author Jean Houston (Jump Time, The Possible Human observes: “As you read, see, and enjoy the riches contained in this book you too may discover, with such wonder and astonishment, that the dreamtime lives within you. For you are in the presence of Denise Kester who has tapped into the source of creativity and thus, is herself, a Source-rer.”