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Scientists and artists aren’t always ready bedfellows, but two have been getting their heads together to interpret dreams and turn them into art.

Dreams ID is a project between artist and design writer Julia Lockheart and sleep scientist Mark Blagrove.

Professor Blagrove is director of the Sleep Laboratory at Swansea University, where he specialises in brain processes during sleep and the relationship between dreams and waking life.

In this exciting project, Professor Blagrove uses conversation to tease information about a dream from a subject and Dr Lockheart, senior lecturer at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s (UWTSD) Swansea College of Art, turns the experience into compelling art.

Using black and coloured inks, Dr Lockheart listens to the interview and illustrates the person’s dream onto pages of one of Sigmund Freud’s best-known works, The Interpretation of Dreams. The pages are then ripped out, mounted and framed.

Usually the discussion and illustration are performed in front of an audience, with a screen showing spectators the artistic process while they listen to the dream analysis.

Professor Blagrove said: “We sit at a large table with the person who wishes to discuss their dream. The audience stands and can listen and also see the drawing live on the screen. The individual starts to describe their dream. Julia uses the index of Freud’s book The Interpretation of Dreams to choose an appropriate page or two, these are removed from the book and she draws on them in ink, sometimes incorporating words on the page into the illustration. This takes about 20 minutes.”

The duo have permission from Freud’s publishers to tear pages from his book, which was chosen because of its importance in the field of dream research.

We went along to watch as 29-year-old Sleep Laboratory research assistant Michelle Carr talked through her recent dream - the first time she has had a dream interpreted in such detail.

During her night wanderings she found herself back at high school in upstate New York. She went into a basement where she saw a boy who said “don’t find out about the darkness”, he then turned into a giant pink monster.

As soon as the story begins to unfold, Dr Lockheart starts flicking through Freud’s book and tearing out pages.

Professor Blagrove said: “Michelle’s dream was very interesting, partly because of one of the things that one of the characters said. Although it seemed like a monster dream and could be seen as quite simple, on the other hand you’ve got somebody in the dream saying ‘don’t find out about the darkness’. We then found out from her that was something that she had been thinking about in her own life recently, but also previously at high school, so it was interesting that the dream was set at school.”

He added: “A lot of scientific work on dreaming involves trying to work out what are the memory sources for the dreams, you can run experiments or look at diaries. What we’ve been doing is an extension of that, but we have a much more in-depth discussion about the dream, to find out what has been happening in the dream and what has been happening in their life that might have triggered it.

“There is a standard process for eeking out a dream in instances where you wish to be quite experiential about it and to work out what it means to the dreamer. You first of all focus on the dream and try and get as much detail as possible, what emotions were present, any colours, if any people in the dream looked familiar and what the actions were - all whilst thinking about that person’s waking life.

“Once you’ve got the dream and a description of the person’s waking life it’s possible to tie those two together. It can be interesting to find out where the dreams have come from.

“From the scientific point of view we are trying to trace back from the content of the dream to the person’s waking life to how that dream has been produced.”

Dr Lockheart added: “The first thing I look for in the book is a structural element. So for this particular drawing the element was a staircase, I found that structurally in the text and then I very quickly pulled the text out of the book and start to draw the staircase.

“Then I start to draw key moments, and bring in the colour next. As I’m working I’m looking for key words that jump out of the text that I circle and build into the imagery. In the case of Michelle’s dream, there was a boy who turned into a pink monster, down the nose of the monster is the word violence.”

In previous artworks, Dr Lockheart has used the text to form the New York skyline or individual lampposts in a street.

Once Dr Lockheart finished she showed the piece to Miss Carr who said: “When you tell the dream on the surface, You don’t get as much insight. This has actually enhanced the dream’s vividness in my mind. It’s almost become more alive in my mind.”

If you would like your dream interpreted and turned into art - or watch it being done - you can go to Swansea University’s Science Festival which takes place on Friday, September 8, from 4.30 to 9.30 pm. Book a place at dreamsid.com .