I am recently retired from the decorative concrete industry having achieved a certain level of acclaim and material benefit. The world of dreams may seem like a curious interest for someone who has spent the majority of his life working with something as dense as concrete, however concrete is pliable for a period of time. In that short window of time the craftsman is charged with using the resources available to him to bring about the desired outcome. In life too, it behooves us to use our resources to the best of our abilities. Dreams offer us great value provided we receive their wisdom.
As a child I received attention from adults due to my ability to draw. I loved drawing and working with color. I was able to accurately reproduce what I saw with my physical eyes. As a junior in high school I took a two-hour art class. I soon discovered there were other good artists, some of whom were more imaginative than me. As I mentioned my strength was drawing what I saw in front of me. In preparing us for a career in art the teacher assigned us project and due dates. I knew my best art came when the spirit moved me. Now I was facing arbitrary subject matter and deadline dictates. It felt forced. I was not inspired. I was intimidated. My imagination went on strike. For years I had allowed my creativity to be dependent upon an outside source. Now I felt so inadequate that I dropped the class after the first few weeks. I gave up on my childhood dream of being an artist because I didn’t think I had the imagination to keep us with the other students.
Even so, I became a successful artist in the unlikely field of decorative concrete. I learned to transform functional concrete into beautiful and colorful counter tops, driveways, sidewalks, pool decks and even city streets. There was a particular moment, however when I made a quantum leap in the way I saw creativity and how I regarded my imagination. This took place one morning during my decorative contractor days in a meeting where the homeowners and I were determining the colors and textures for the exterior concrete work on their new home. The owners asked me to design something totally new and unique for them, something different from any work I had done in the past. Their request brought me the same feelings of anxiety and intimidation I felt in my high school art class. They were not the cause of my anxiety. They simply wanted their home to be distinctive. Nonetheless for a moment I felt something akin to panic. It was an occasion for me to redress my lesson about creativity that I was not willing to face in high school.
I breathed deeply and made an effort to gather myself so I could offer them something, anything. Surprisingly clear images from a recent dream came to me, almost out of nowhere. It was as if I were watching a romantic travel movie or documentary. I was on horseback in the dream. I was enjoying the beautiful view from high on a bluff overlooking the river valley below. It was like seeing the old west before power lines and highways. I could immediately see the dream images as being the answer to the unique design they desired. I held my breath as I shared my quick sketch to them. What a moment it was when they smiled excitedly signaling their approval. It was exactly what they wanted, something unique.
Years later I studied dreams in earnest and I still record them and interpret them. I investigated various methods and also joined an international organization dedicated to bringing people who cared about dreams together.
Courtesy: Doug Bannister
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