Julia Lockheart is a British artist and university academic. Her artistic practice concerns the depiction of dreams in artworks that then enable the sharing of the dream with others.[2] This has led to research on the relationship of sharing dreams to empathy.[9] Her other research strand focuses on writing in art and design,for which she is the co-founder and Director of the Writing-PAD network[8] and co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Writing in Creative Practice (published by Intellect Books).[3][10]
In 2018,Lockheart published an important academic paper,"The importance of writing as a material practice for art and design students:A contemporary rereading of the Coldstream Reports".[11]
William Coldstream was an English realistpainter and art teacher,and from 1959 he was Chairman of the National Advisory Council on Art Education. In 1960,the council published its first report,named after Coldstream,which proposed and set out requirements for a new Diploma in Art and Design (Dip.A.D.),such as written essays and written examinations,and "helped to change the structure of art school teaching in Britain".[11][12]
According to the study carried out by Lockheart,and her own experience as a practitioner or studio artist –rather than a theorist –however,the recommendation of academic writing for practitioners contained in the Coldstream Reports were misread and,as a result,strong and –according to Lockheart,unfounded –beliefs were formed among academics and those in managerial positions throughout the Higher Education (HE) sector.[11]
Lockheart posits that "upholding these institutional assumptions may have an impact on how writing is used as a component of examination and therefore aligned with the need for academic parity across the HE sector,rather than as a tool for understanding and articulating practice."[11] "As a result," she continues,"this article calls for the reinstatement of a unified HE art and design curriculum to be filled with a diversity of pedagogical [teaching] approaches,including writing practices,that are complementary to and inform the purposes of creative practice."[11]
As a result of this controversial mis-reading of the first report and a later report published in 1970,in 1970 "the Department of Education and Science ... recommended the humanities style academic thesis or dissertation as a part of the move from the [old] Diploma in Design to ..." the new Diploma in Art and Design (Dip.A.D.),and these mis-readings have "caused writing to be used as an examinable measure rather than as a tool for learning",to its detriment.[11]
Academic literacies
In a paper co-written with G. Melles in 2012,titled "Writing PAD:Writing purposefully in art and design:Responding to converging and diverging new academic literacies",[13] Lockheart argues that while academic literacies and writing practices are well-established in older,traditional academic disciplines,more recent disciplines such as art and design have been forced to adopt these existing academic practices or to justify their own distinctive practices,and this has been a contentious issue in the discipline of art and design (which includes diverse fields,each with their differences and their own requirements,such as fine art,graphic design and fashion design).[13]
It is in this spirit that Lockheart teaches Contextual Practice,and primarily for this reason that she co-founded an academic network,Writing-PAD,to provide a platform for these new ideas and practices (see below).[11]
Writing-PAD and Journal of Writing in Creative Practice
Lockheart is also director and co-ordinator of Writing-PAD –short for Writing Purposefully in Art and Design[13] –an online academic and research network connecting over 100 institutions.[3]
Writing-PAD grew out of Lockheart's interest in a correct interpretation and implementation of the Coldsteam Reports and in academic literacies,and was specifically set-up "to support and disseminate the range of genres associated with writing in art and design;"[13] and also "to promote discussion about the necessary balance of consensus and dissensus that art and design fields require to remain vibrant."[13]
Lockheart is also co-editor of the Journal of Writing in Creative Practice,which she co-founded with Goldsmiths' EmeritusProfessor and University of Wales Trinity Saint David's Professor of Practice,John Wood.[7][5][8][10] The JWCP,too,grew out of the contentious re-reading of the Coldstream Reports,and also out of the Writing-PAD international network,and is its "published voice"[7][5][8][10] –as did the later project "DreamsID" (see below).
DreamsID
Interpretation of a dream of being attacked.
DreamsID (short for "Dreams Illustrated and Discussed" or "Dreams Interpreted and Drawn") is a practical,collaborative project between Lockheart and research psychologist,Professor Mark Blagrove.[4][6]
They hold 60 –90 minute sessions with the dream subject and an invited audience,and while the subject shares their dream,with Blagrove helping to facilitate and visualize the dream narrative,Lockheart draws and paints the dream,in real-time,on a torn-out page from Sigmund Freud's book,The Interpretation of Dreams,to create "a tapestry of elements,plot,metaphoric imagery,and Freud's words."[2] This follows a Dadaist and Surrealist performance aesthetic (Lockheart et al.,2021).[14] Then,later in the session,the audience is invited to join in the discussion,referencing the dream to waking life,according to the method devised by psychiatristMontague Ullman.[2][4][6][9]
Interpretation of a dream of flying.
In the course of the sessions,Lockheart and Blagrove began to notice that the sharing of the dreams and the discussions were having an effect not only on them but on some of the audience,and that the sessions were invoking empathy toward the subjects sharing their dreams. As a result of this,the collaborators went on to co-author an important scientific paper,"Testing the Empathy Theory of Dreaming:The Relationships Between Dream Sharing and Trait and State Empathy",which was later published in Frontiers in Psychology.[2][9]
In April 2019,the BBC World Service Television programme CrowdScience broadcast a segment in which Lockheart is shown painting as a candidate shares her dream.[1]
In April 2020,Lockheart's artwork was featured in a New Scientist article on how the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting people's dreams.[15] The techniques used for the painting of these COVID-19 dreams,and the relationship of the artworks to Surrealism,are detailed in Lockheart (2024).[16]
In October 2020 and January 2021,Lockheart and Blagrove[17][14] held online events to commemorate the 120th anniversaries of Sigmund Freud's patient Dora telling two dreams to Freud. The first dream was of being rescued from a burning house by her father,the second was of travelling to her father's funeral.[18] The aim of the events was to discuss with expert panel and worldwide audience how Dora’s two dreams could be related to her distressing family circumstances.[17][19] The two dreams were painted by Lockheart during the discussions.[17]
In June 2023 Blagrove and Lockheart held an event at the C. G. Jung Institute,Zürich,in Küsnacht,Switzerland,[20] as part of the conference marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Institute.[21] A dream of an attendee was painted by Lockheart during the event.[22]
In recognition of the Dadaist influence on the DreamsID collaboration,in July 2023 Blagrove and Lockheart held an event at the Cabaret Voltaire,Zürich.[23] Cabaret Voltaire was the birthplace of Dadaism in 1916.[24] A dream of an attendee was painted by Lockheart during the event.[25] The painting of the dream from the Cabaret Voltaire event and a film made of that event[26] were included in an article in 2024 in Psyche magazine,on the science of dreaming,empathy and group bonding.[27] Two other paintings of dreams by Lockheart were also included in the article.[27]
Paintings of Dora's dreams by Julia Lockheart
Painting of the first dream, of rescue from a burning house, that Dora told Freud in 1900.
Painting of the second dream, of travelling to father's funeral, that Dora told Freud in 1900.
To commemorate the centenary of the founding of Surrealism, Lockheart and Mark Blagrove held a symposium, Methodological Approaches to Studying Dreams: Surrealism and Dreams, Film, Poetry, and Art: with Live Painting of Breton's (1924) Urinal Dream, at the 41st annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams in The Netherlands, in June 2024.[29] In the symposium Blagrove and attendees discussed André Breton's 1924 dream of a flying urinal (Spector, 1989)[30] while the dream was painted by Lockheart.[31]
As part of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism's[32] commemorations in October 2024 for the centenary of the founding of Surrealism, Lockheart's painting of the flying urinal dream that André Breton had in 1924 (Spector, 1989) was chosen for exhibition at the American University of Paris.[33][34] Also at the conference Lockheart and Blagrove held a Dream Salon participatory performance with live discussion and painting of an attendee's dream.[35][35][36]
In November 2024 Lockheart and Blagrove held a Dream Salon at the Freud Museum London in which a recent dream of ceramic artist Abigail Shama was discussed and painted.[37][38]
Selected publications
Lockheart has published several papers in academic and research journals,[39] given a number of conference presentations, and held many workshops.[7]
Drew, L., ed. (2008). The Student Experience in Art and Design Higher Education: drivers for change. Cambridge: Jill Rogers Associates. ISBN978-0-9547111-7-7. Lockheart, J., Gamble, M., Miller, J., Fisher, G., and Henderson, D. (2008), "Practice-based learning and teaching: a real world experience?"
Blagrove, M.; Carr, M.; Jones, A.; Lockheart, J. (2018). "A New Theory of Dream Function: Telling Dreams Enhances Empathy towards the Dreamer". International Journal of Dream Research. 11 (Supplement 1): S55. Retrieved 24 April 2020. Paper on the benefits of sharing dreams, given at the 35th annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Scottsdale, Arizona, 16–20 June 2018.
Blagrove, M.; Hale, S.; Lockheart, J.; Carr, M.; Jones, A. (2018). "The Relationship between Reading Fictional Novels, Dream Telling, Attitude to Dreams and Empathy". International Journal of Dream Research. 11 (Supplement 1): S65. Retrieved 24 April 2020. Paper given at the 35th annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, Scottsdale, Arizona, 16–20 June 2018.
Lockheart, J.; Raein, M. (2012). "No one expects the Design Inquisition: Searching for a metaphorical solution to thinking, researching and writing through Design". Journal of Writing in Creative Practice. 5 (2). Intellect Books (Europe), University of Chicago Press (USA): 275–289. doi:10.1386/jwcp.5.2.275_1. ISSN1753-5190. Online ISSN1753-5204.
Dada or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had spread to New York City and a variety of artistic centers in Europe and Asia.
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and social issues were all aspects of this movement. Modernism centered around beliefs in a "growing alienation" from prevailing "morality, optimism, and convention" and a desire to change how "human beings in a society interact and live together".
Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and ideas. Its intention was, according to leader André Breton, to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality", or surreality. It produced works of painting, writing, theatre, filmmaking, photography, and other media as well.
Goldsmiths, University of London, legally the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in New Cross, London. It was renamed Goldsmiths' College after being acquired by the University of London in 1904, and specialises in the arts, design, computing, humanities and social sciences. The main building on campus, known as the Richard Hoggart Building, was originally opened in 1844 and is the site of the former Royal Naval School.
Lucian Michael Freud was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish architect Ernst L. Freud and the grandson of Sigmund Freud. Freud got his first name "Lucian" from his mother in memory of the ancient writer Lucian of Samosata. His family moved to England in 1933, when he was 10 years old, to escape the rise of Nazism. He became a British naturalized citizen in 1939. From 1942 to 1943 he attended Goldsmiths' College, London. He served at sea with the British Merchant Navy during the Second World War.
Cabaret Voltaire is the birthplace of the Dada art movement, founded in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1916. It was founded by Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings as a cabaret intended for artistic and political purposes.
Dream art is any form of art that is directly based on a material from one's dreams, or a material that resembles dreams, but not directly based on them.
The UCL Slade School of Fine Art is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as a department of UCL's Faculty of Arts and Humanities.
Ithell Colquhoun was a British painter, occultist, poet and author. Stylistically her artwork was affiliated with Surrealism. In the early 1930s she met André Breton in Paris, and later started working with Surrealist automatism techniques in her writing and painting. In the late 1930s, Colquhoun was part of the British Surrealist Group before being expelled because she refused to renounce her association with occult groups, including the Ordo Templi Orientis and the Fellowship of Isis. Despite her break with the movement, Colquhoun was a lifelong adherent to Surrealism and its automatic techniques. Although initially acclaimed, art historians have noted that Colquhoun's reputation suffered during and after World War II when British surrealists such as E. L. T. Mesens pamphleted against her former husband, Toni del Renzio.
Gradiva, or "She who steps along", is a mythic figure created by Wilhelm Jensen as a central character in his novella Gradiva (1902). The character was inspired by an existing Roman relief. She later became a prominent subject in Surrealist art after Sigmund Freud published an essay on Jensen's work.
Henriette Theodora Markovitch, known as Dora Maar, was a French photographer, painter, and poet.
Mary Leonora Carrington was a British-born, naturalized Mexican surrealist painter and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of the 1930s. Carrington was also a founding member of the women's liberation movement in Mexico during the 1970s.
Stephen William Mallinder is an English artist and musician who was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire, and went on to work as Sassi & Loco, the Ku-Ling Bros., Hey, Rube!, Wrangler, and Creep Show.
Dream sharing is the process of documenting or discussing both night and daydreams with others. Dreams are novel but realistic simulations of waking social life. One of the primary purposes of sharing dreams is entertainment.
Susan Hiller was a US-born, British conceptual artist who lived in London, United Kingdom. Her practice spanned a broad range of media, including installation, video, photography, painting, sculpture, performance, artist's books and writing. A key figure in British art across four decades, she was best known for her innovative large-scale multimedia installations, and for works that took as their subject matter aspects of culture that were overlooked, marginalised, or disregarded, including paranormal beliefs–an approach which she referred to as "paraconceptualism".
Dr Sharon Kivland is an artist and writer living in Brittany and London. She was Reader in Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University and Research Associate at the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research in London. She has exhibited internationally since 1979 and her work was represented by Galerie Bugdahn und Kaimer in Düsseldorf. for many years until the gallery closed. She was a commissioning editor for the journal EROS, and now is editor and publisher of her own small press MA BIBLIOTHÈQUE, based in London. In 2023 she became Visiting Professor at Kingston University, London.
Dreaming is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association on behalf of the International Association for the Study of Dreams. IASD's other peer-reviewed publication, the International Journal of Dream Research (IJoDR) is published on Heidelberg University Library servers.
Charlotte Colbert is a British film director and multi-media artist which the Evening Standard described as "a natural born magician." Her practice ranges from artistic installations which incorporate sculpture, photography and performative elements, to narrative feature-length films. Her directorial debut was praised by the New York Times and won the Golden Leopard for Best First Picture.
Mark Blagrove is a British research psychologist who specializes in the study of sleep and dreams.
The International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) is a multi-disciplinary professional nonprofit organization for scientific dream research (oneirology), founded in 1983 and headquartered in the U.S.
↑ Freud, Sigmund (1977). The Pelican Freud Library, Vol. 8 (orig. 1905): Fragments of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria ("Dora"). Penguin Books. ISBN0140217428.
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Painting of the first dream, of rescue from a burning house, that Dora told Freud in 1900.
Painting of the second dream, of travelling to father's funeral, that Dora told Freud in 1900.
