The Gallery of Dreaming Hats

Lucid Dream or Future Show
Notebooks 2001, Rocky Mts

SUMMARY: The Gallery of Dreaming Hats, a fantasy group art show where innovative millinery meets the vast realm of lucid dream. It works two ways: Hat-makers design hats based on their dreams; When you where the hats, you have the dreams. *** Images above are from notebooks 2001– a rudimentary sketch of what are marvelous creative possibilities.

Backstory: This vision was born in the Rocky Mountains in a winterwonderland where hats veer from the mundane to the fantastical. Another influence: Sculptural Headwear for Earthlings, the work and tagline of milliner (and friend) Jasmin Zorlu. Through Jasmin’s work, I had my first glimpse of the depth of possibility and meaning in headwear. A third influence: The great hats of the Vajrayana Buddhist lineages stewarded mainly in Himalayan countries. These magnificient hats tell mythic yogic stories and are often used in empowerment rituals where the presiding lama embodies the transmission of lineage wisdom and practice. The Karmapa’s Black Crown, for instance, is said to be woven of the hair of thousands of dakinis (wisdom females) who bestowed it upon his awakening. Finally, the folks hats I wore and saw on travels to Sikkim India and Bali, Indonesia seemed to hold entire cultures within their threads. 

The Vision is a multi-artist gallery show of hyperbolic hats where the artist shares the dream they had in lucid prose. The show may have a multimedia/immersive aspect where dreams are projected as well as the making of the hats and interviews about them. A book showcases the story and the magic of this traveling millinery circus.