“the shape of dreams“
Initiated in 1985, this annual juried art exhibition presents work by Hillsborough middle and high school students who are invited to explore ideas and visions similar to those explored by Salvador Dalí and the surrealists. This year, the theme is “The Shape of Dreams,” a theme that encourages students to explore the process and meaning of their dreams through time, myth and literature.
Dreaming is a state of awareness common to all human beings. The dream engages cognition, sensory content, memory, and emotion. It is an irony of the dream that it is so visual: we experience the dream as things seen, yet only with our eyes closed. Because of the intensity of the dream state, its unbridled nature calls into question the very nature of reality, a question frequently asked by us all at times—is this reality or a dream? The dream presents poignant images mixed with the most banal traces of visual experience, leaving us searching for meaning. Thus, the dream invites abundant, though often unresolved, insights into the life of the dreamer, and by extension when the dream is visualized, into the life of the artist and their culture.
Influenced by Sigmund Freud’s ideas about interpreting dreams, Salvador Dalí became a painter of dreams. Along with his surrealist colleagues, he set out to explore the world of dreams, sharing the discoveries of his nocturnal adventures. Dalí described his paintings as “hand painted dream photographs,” and his irrational dream-visions are captured and presented with the precision of a photograph. Dalí explored a variety of techniques to achieve this effect, including scale distortion, transformation, unnatural atmospheric colors, anxiety-inducing horizon lines, and dream-symbol narratives.
“The Shape of Dreams” invites students to reflect on their dreams and create their own visual interpretation and techniques. The work size is strictly limited to 8×10 because of the frame size, but all 2D media types are welcomed and encouraged as submissions.
Thank you to our sponsor:
middle school
Alphabetical order by school
(Click images to enlarge)
Gabriel Lopez
A Resemblance of Me
Color pencil
Carrollwood Day School
Art Teacher: Seth Firestone
Grade: 8
Dreams are a mixture of emotion and personal conflicts. In my art, I draw a scene of floating islands above clouds, an example of my private “utopia”. The islands’ location also resembles a self-portrait, showing how dreams reflect oneself. Below the clouds, strings of pipes and gears are attached to the floating islands. This is meant to represent how dreams have a literal meaning.
Makayla Lang
Space Walk
Watercolor
Coleman Middle School
Art Teacher: Audrey Tedder
Grade: 8
This piece is a dream-like representation of the possibilities of the afterlife. The roads falling off the clouds can lead to a variety of outcomes – even some that are nonsensical. The eyes portray an all-seeing “decider” who chooses what path you take. The stars shining in the background represent new path options appearing.
Shaye Siambanes
Meerkat Static
Acrylic
Coleman Middle School
Art Teacher: Audrey Tedder
Grade: 8
Artists often have creative ideas popping into their minds that may come to life in their dreams. The meerkats popping out of moon craters represent mine. Ideas come out of nowhere, each one as weird and creative as the last. The colorful static background portrays the positive energy that I have in my life. When positive energy and creative thoughts combine in the wildest dreams, I can interpret them and transform them into art.
Pela Zysk
Mind Control
Mixed Media
Coleman Middle School
Art Teacher: Audrey Tedder
Grade: 7
My piece focuses on how our organs, primarily our brains, influence our dreams. It shows dreams and their bodily influences as a solar system. Our major organs “orbit” our brain just like planets circulate around the sun. The colorful background represents the universe as well as the possibility of dreams – the “where did my brain come up with that?” thought that we think about when waking from a bizarre or unique dream experience.
Naisha Singhal
A Bouquet of Flowers
Marker
Coleman Middle School
Art Teacher: Audrey Tedder
Grade: 7
I had a dream where people envisioned their eyes as symbols of beauty, of simple nature. I used alcohol markers for this project because of their vibrancy. I also wanted to show diversity because nature is diverse. I displayed it through the eyes which is why there is an assortment of so many pupils and colors.
Chloe Ngo
Holding Your Head Above Water
Mixed Media
Coleman Middle School
Art Teacher: Audrey Tedder
Grade: 8
My dream is about my family and friends at a koi fishpond. At the time, I was terrified of the fish, so I portrayed that fear by drawing the girl in the pond slipping under the water. She would have gone under, if it weren’t for the hands of friends and family holding her up and offering their support.
Eleanore Lyda Hitzing
Candy Robot Maze
Marker
Coleman Middle School
Art Teacher: Audrey Tedder
Grade: 8
I had a dream where I was in a video game where it was some sort of series of hotel hallways. There were these feminine pink robots with candies printed all over them. My memory of the dream was very faint so I drew the feeling of those virtual halls.
Katie VanOverbeke
Poison Train to Jail
Color Pencil
Coleman Middle School
Art Teacher: Audrey Tedder
Grade: 7
I had a dream where there was a train going to jail through a field of stop signs, and on the train there were poisoned yogurts. My interpretation of it is that people do bad things in life and there are so many signs telling them to stop, but sometimes they continue and end up going to jail. The jail is in the clouds hinting at what would happen if someone ate the poisoned yogurt.
Vanessa Prospal
Happy Hour
Watercolor
Coleman Middle School
Art Teacher: Audrey Tedder
Grade: 7
Dali once said, “surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” Just like Dali, I created a dream-like scene using a rabbit as a bartender, in which the rabbit is destructive in its own way. The various items on and behind the bar are hints to the story; yet, the viewer is still left with questions allowing for many interpretations.
Sophia Eckerty
Disney Doom
Color Pencil
Coleman Middle School
Art Teacher: Audrey Tedder
Grade: 7
The exhibit’s dream theme inspired me to draw a fantasy of my favorite place ever; Magic Kingdom. So, I decided to draw a mother and daughter walking towards Cinderella’s Castle, but the dream factor is that it is threatened to be overrun by the Disney villains. In order to draw the viewer’s eyes towards the castle, the main focal point of the piece, I used the method of one point perspective.
Chloe Khang
A Touch of Color
Mixed Media
Farnell Middle School
Art Teacher: Melanie Schlicter
Grade: 8
I incorporated levitation and metamorphosis into my art. I tried to focus on how to interpret a congenitally blind person’s dream. My Mom works with the blind and the visually impaired. She would regularly talk about visual images they would create in their imagination. Based on science, people cannot fabricate things they have never seen before unless it is appropriated. Some say they do not see colors but feel them.
Leah Piguave
The Giant Polluted Turtle
Color Pencil
Greco Middle Magnet School
Art Teacher: Jill Barncord
Grade: 7
I decided to depict this dream as a place that revolves around climate change and pollution. I used surrealist methods of scale shift and displacement. The message of this artwork is about how climate change and pollution are affecting our world and how it is harming the environment and the wildlife in it.
Vincent Ho
Moving Day
Marker
Martinez Middle School
Art Teacher: Kassandra Cochran
Grade: 8
This art piece expresses isolation which connects to how introverted I am. The vibe is more of a nightmare with a “twilight zone” feel to it. It seems calm, but the details convey something more violent. When I dream I tend to remember details rather than the bigger picture. The family looks like a “societal normal family,” but the details express how they cover up their flaws for the general public.
Charlotte Watts
Wandering Waters
Watercolor
Martinez Middle School
Art Teacher: Kassandra Cochran
Grade: 8
I created this piece because it reminded me of a familiar dream I had about being stuck underneath the water, trapped. I want the viewer to know how this piece is about becoming the ocean, unable to get out. It shows the water’s life tangling into hers. I used ballpoint pen on top of watercolor, reminding me of the texture and feel of water and ocean life.
Samantha Emmanuel
The Dream Catcher
Graphite
Martinez Middle School
Art Teacher: Kassandra Cochran
Grade: 8
My artwork is a visual exploration of the unexpected nature of dreams. After a dream, I am aware that a substantial event happened, however, I am uncertain of what it was. With an arcade claw machine, usually you are aiming for a certain prize. The likelihood of getting what you want is very slim, resulting in something you didn’t anticipate or desire. That is how I feel when dreaming. The claw represents my feeling that something unknown chooses the topic of my dreams, and the assortment of items represent the various aspects
Myoshi Daniels
Setting Your Heart Ablaze
Mixed Media
Mulrennan Middle School
Art Teacher: Holly Gaw
Grade: 8
This piece represents how a one’s heart could be so open to the world, yet still isolated. Many first think the subject of this image is an egg. In reality, it is a heart showing the determination someone must obtain to reach a goal.
Audrey Crump
Alien Homies
Color Pencil
Mulrennan Middle School
Art Teacher: Holly Gaw
Grade: 8
The two figures in the foreground are two of my own original characters.
I named them Divvy and Byte. I wanted to use them in this surreal work of art because they can only be described as “wacky.” Like, have you ever seen an alien wearing a bubble jacket before?
Azaria Navarro
Look and Listen
Medium
Orange Grove Magnet Middle School
Art Teacher: Hilda Muinos
Grade: 8
My piece is called look and listen. It focuses on listening to others when warned. See the snake is wrapped around the person, and it’s telling them bad advice. The cats and the sun are warning the person but they’re not listening. The planet is kind of the boss, and the stars are its henchmen. Finally, I added a bird with a phone but note the person has no ears so the phone is useless. I also added a swirly background to display warping, sort of like confusion.
Chrystan Ross
The 12th House
Color Pencil
Orange Grove Magnet Middle School
Art Teacher: Hilda Muinos
Grade: 7
This surrealist painting is a representation of my mind as a preschooler. The dinosaur is metamorphosing between an elephant and a rhinoceros beetle. At that time, it was dinosaurs that filled me with wonder. In the background there are hairy mountains. I put them there because this was my view of adults in my imagination. The out of scale mantis head represents the Sun because bugs were terrifying to me and my parents scared me about how looking straight into the Sun would destroy my eyesight.
Alexa Burgos-Ruiz
Stuck in Space
Watercolor
Orange Grove Magnet Middle School
Art Teacher: Hilda Muinos
Grade: 8
My artwork represents feeling trapped and not knowing what to do. In space you are levitating, you cannot move, only stay in place. You would feel lost and stuck there. The arch represents a portal letting you fall into space. It also shows dislocation. I created this work by sketching, using colored pencils and watercolor to create a better blend and get brighter colors. I learned that it is better to use paint for textured paper in order to cover all the white, but I was surprised that the watercolor turned out so rich colorful and ended up so nice.
Angelina Mai
Space-Time Walk
Mixed Media
Pierce Middle School
Art Teacher: Victoria Trespando Escobio
Grade: 7
This drawing was inspired by three of my dreams; a dream of living on a clockwork/steampunk themed world, a dream of me floating through space, and a dream of me peacefully sinking down a vast, empty ocean. I combined them to represent how time and space are closely intertwined. I think the most important part of my piece is the little spirit walking on the water, a lost soul traveling through this realm to find its own peace. The dreams were in first person, so it seemed fitting.
Sofie-Lyn Jones
The Shape of Dreams
Mixed Media
Progress Village Magnet Middle School
Art Teacher: Julianne Gonzalez
Grade: 8
“The Shape of Dreams,” 2023, is colored pencil, pen, and Copic markers. Everything in the fisheye has meaning. Distorted woman: weird, unnatural dreams,; mask: emotional dreams; winged eye: a personal dream I’ve had twice and remember really well; house: dreams taking place at my house; painting: watching yourself; eye: being watched; skull: dreams about death; heart: dreams about love; the girl in shock is me because all of my dreams surprise me.
Alexia Steele
Porcelain Face
Mixed Media
Progress Village Magnet Middle School
Art Teacher: Julianne Gonzalez
Grade: 8
Porcelain Face, 2023, is a mixed-media piece in watercolor, acrylic and fine line pen. The work encompasses the feeling of displacement and masking emotions. The concept is presented in a fluid state I see in my dreams.
Giovani Jimenez
Eye Ahead
Mixed Media
Rampello Downtown Magnet K-8 School
Art Teacher: Elizabeth Van Allen
Grade: 7
Eye Ahead represents keeping your eyes ahead and not looking back on the past. The green coming out of the eye and the pennies on the ground represent people’s need for money, and how money is all they dream about for their future. The beach background also conveys how people dream about freedom from certain things, to just float in the water.
Daria McLaughlin
Curtain Call
Color Pencil
Tampa Preparatory School
Art Teacher: Martha DeAmbrose
Grade: 6
Making this piece of art had me thinking of dreams that I would have had when I was a baby or a toddler, a happy sweet dream, filled with color and non-real things. Like, would if the solar system was on a stage and the ocean waves could be stage curtains. The thing I want for people to know when reading this is that not everything that you want will come your way. The hard work and meaning you put into your work will repay you as a dream you would want to have.
Madeleine Cole
Untitled
Graphite
Walker Magnet Middle School
Art Teacher: Trista Johnson
Grade: 7
My piece is about the thought of human nature is being replaced by an object or alternative species. I replaced the qualities of a human with a fish, and the qualities of a fish with a human, representing the swap of both natures. I was inspired from a dream I had, which was somewhat disturbing, and did not leave my mind until I drew it out on paper.
Sophia Kashta
Space Waves
Mixed Media
Walker Magnet Middle School
Art Teacher: Trista Johnson
Grade: 7
I created Space Waves for “Shape of Dreams.” This connected the theme that dreams do not have any true shape, they really are unique and creative. I used a wiggly outline and two sleep bubbles represent this. The astronaut I drew as floating in space with the planets and a beach in the dream. The beach has a big personal connection to me as I grew up near the beach. The beach and my iconic pink and purple color scheme reflect my personality.
High School
Alphabetical order by school
Sofia Cruz
Watcher’s in the Sky
Digital
Alonso High School
Art Teacher: Shane Heath
Grade: 12
As the girl dreams in a deep sleep, the sun and moon watch over her dreams. The perspective is meant to display an out-of-body experience while she’s dreaming. Many of my dreams consists of me looking on from afar so I wanted to capture that surreal feeling.
Emerson Lewis
Consequence of Lunch and Little Sleep
Acrylic
Alonso High School
Art Teacher: Shane Heath
Grade: 11
In this piece I wanted to do a twist and focus on daydreaming rather than the typical night dream. This is a self-portrait of myself sitting in pre-calc after lunch. I get very sleepy after lunch, making the theme fitting. Coincidentally, the topic that week was proving triangles, which also appear as the primary shape of every object the octopus is holding. The octopus represents my constant thought about the ocean.
Zuhe Costa
Pack Your Home
Acrylic
Alonso High School
Art Teacher: Cristina Ruperto
Grade: 12
Packing Your Home is a representation of one of the greatest sacrifices people immigrating have to go through to pursue a new dream. Packing all of your things—your home, everything you love and know—in a single little suitcase. The juxtaposition of having something so big and meaningful, into something so small and empty.
Jorge Hernandez
Milagro
Ink
Alonso High School
Art Teacher: Cristina Ruperto
Grade: 12
Milagro, which translates to “miracle,” is a tribute to the tangible beauty derived from Yoruba and Palo Mayombe despite extensive translation and diaspora. It represents the nurturing of a child’s spirituality when their childhood is spent around imaginative souls who teach superstitious tales of forced syncretism. Our ancestors are the root of our existence, this simple belief is the driving force of my imagery.
Jack Williams
Welcome to Nimmya
Ink
Alonso High School
Art Teacher: Cristina Ruperto
Grade: 11
As of recently I’ve been really into the Cyberpunk aesthetic, so I wanted to incorporate that into the dreamlike environment, while also clueing in the addiction humans have with technology, and the ways it can affect our minds upon a daily basis. The dragon is a representative of the creativity and imagination that gets decapitated when we use our technology too much, and it invades our minds and dreams.
Olivia Price
Day Dreams
Acrylic
Alonso High School
Art Teacher: Cristina Ruperto
Grade: 11
For this piece, I interpreted the theme of “Shape of Dreams” as daydreams and imaginations, particularly in students. As a high school student, I feel like our creativity and imagination are restricted by responsibilities and expectations. Ever since childhood, we are all taught what to think and how to think it. My dream of having freedom and individuality is illustrated in the birds in the background, contrasting the environment of the classroom. In addition, the origami swans represent my dreams and aspirations, and they fly away morphing into real doves to portray how my goals feel so out of reach.
Natalia Sarduy
Dreams in Steam
Color Pencil
Alonso High School
Art Teacher: Vanessa Smith
Grade: 9
I chose to create this image because it balances a rational view of life with one that affirms the power of the unconscious and dreams. It shows a man that inside him there is like a room. Behind him there are some floating boats and hot air balloons. This painting represents fantasy, it is like a crazy dream.
Lilly Nguyen
Labyrinth of Whimsical Anxiety
Mixed Media
Armwood High School
Art Teacher: Emma Lettera
Grade: 10
My dreams are like a chaotic landscape, a bunch of random, unrelated scenes slapped together to form an incoherent story. None of these situations are ever pleasant. They are suffocating and anxiety inducing, and when they’re happening, I hope that soon I’ll wake up. Once they end, I feel a sense of relief that what happened was nothing more than a dream.
Lex Estevez
The Phases
Mixed Media
Armwood High School
Art Teacher: Emma Lettera
Grade: 12
I created this work with the 5 phases of sleep in mind; essentially the process of being awake to entering the state of dreaming. I depicted each phase metaphorically using vague references to dreams I’ve had before. The “transformation” is represented through the layers of the human body being peeled back one by one. Although, I think the “transformation” can represent lots of things, not just sleep.
Reagan Paul
Toes at Dinner
Acrylic
Bell Creek Academy
Art Teacher: Charles Cawley
Grade: 12
Two toes with something unknown in between, loose fabrics hanging off the figure. It’s subtle but important: Even among them, one is not like the other. The table is set but untouched. Candles act as the single source of light, casting shadows on a blank wall. A bowl of fruit remains fresh. I wanted to show that—although one may be different—this one thing makes them the same. None of them can eat.
Khloe Coffie
Benedicts
Mixed Media
Bell Creek Academy
Art Teacher: Charles Cawley
Grade: 11
Not a single person in my dreams can get upset. No matter how harsh the situation or how dismayed they should be, their words never have a single tone of anger or displeasure. That’s why they’re all quite pleased.
Sebastian Aponte-Bunker
The In-Between
Digital Art
Bell Creek Academy
Art Teacher: Charles Cawley
Grade: 11
Welcome to The In-Between, the place where dreams are made. On the left you have Heavenly dreams, while the right side is where Nightmares are. The computers on the characters heads symbolize your brain. It is like a computer, processing and playing dreams at night. The items in the back are representatives of dreams I experienced before. Whether you’re taken aback by this piece or not, something is bound to stick with you…
Trinity Knight
Book of Dreams, Knight Edition
Mixed Media
Bell Creek Academy
Art Teacher: Charles Cawley
Grade: 12
For my piece I decided to go the literature route when it came to dreams and did a story book of all of my dreams and aspirations in life. To make my piece come to life I used Acrylic paint, Watercolor, Prisma colored pencils and Sharpie fine liner. My book is open to chapter 17 to represent me being 17 and on my page it consists of my dreams and aspirations in life in the future.
Aroha Merced
The Lady in the Painting
Digital Art
Bell Creek Academy
Art Teacher: Charles Cawley
Grade: 12
The Lady in the Painting is a mysterious woman. No one knows who she’s waiting for, or what she wants, but she continues to stand staring. Some say she’s waiting for her beloved; some say she’s waiting for the reaper. But you know what I think? I think she’s waiting for you. Why not go up and say hi? After all she’s just a painting…she can’t hurt you.
Fernando Jimenez
Midnight TV
Graphite
Bell Creek Academy
Art Teacher: Charles Cawley
Grade: 11
A dream is like a piece of film or an episode of a late-night program, offering visual aspects of a story. I wanted to implement this concept to my piece, focusing on the storyline fabrication rather than theme. Absurdity was also taken into consideration, as dreams seem to incorporate ridiculous subjects into their story. With this thought process, I created an image that, even with vague aspects for viewer interpretation, seems to follow a plot.
Yaraida Santos
The Little House on the Prairie
Acrylic
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 12
Sarah Nakano
Sleep of Escapism from Abstraction
Mixed Media
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 10
Elliot Conerly
Playpark
Mixed Media
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 11
The Playpark is a piece based on a dream I had, the dream had a huge playpark/wipe-out structure in the middle of a field, while it was just about to start raining. I choose to represent this dream by showing the most top layer of the structure to show to gloomy mood in contrast to the bright obstacle course of structure.
Ava Casali
Going Deeper
Colored Pencil
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 11
This piece is about how hope and fear create ideas in my dreams. My dreaming mind feels like a long hallway, and behind each door is something different. I made the hallway represent the ones I see in school because I often have dreams about this place. It’s a source of joy, sadness, and anger. The human with angel wings represents hope, and the human with a pointy back represents fear. The brain is full of possibility, but the perspective of optimism or pessimism defines how we view the world and the possibilities of things that have yet to happen.
Julian Frost
Into the Vastness, Virtual Insanity, of a Toasterkin Mind
Digital Art
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Linda Galgani
Grade: 12
What are dreams? Short answer: they’re like little movies or events your brain makes up that have some interwoven subconscious meaning about yourself or sometimes it’s just you being a goat at Disney world. My dreams are like the Book of Revelations, death, destruction, and goats, nuclear bombs going off, the sun expanding five times its size, boiling oceans; it’s pretty dire. I guess at my core I focus on the negatives in life, but with art I try to oppose my pessimism with a focus on creation and ongoing, heart beating, entropy defying, everlasting love and life. It can get pretty noisy. The universe is all noise, and imagine we are only hearing a fraction of it. What time do we have to think? I don’t think dreams always have to be while you’re asleep, daydreams are just as valid. I’m always daydreaming of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow with endless possibilities. The universe is the form, and dreams are the emanations. And what ‘s the universe? It simply is.
Morgan Cole
Dreams Station Express!!
Mixed Media
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 11
For the Dalí contest theme, “Shape of Dreams,” I interpreted that idea into an infinite train station and cityscape catering towards abstract and literal dreams. I made a collage for each section show going back into space primarily using an ink pen and heavy stippling to show shadow and depth.
Kaleigh Breivis
A Testimony to Adolescents
Mixed Media
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 9
The shape of a dream, or the shape of a free mind. When dreaming we are privileged with the freedom of mind seen in young children, we experience a world not bound to the of limitations of consciousness. In this piece I illustrate my perspective of a dreaming mind, a mind that becomes surreal. The piece is completed with a mix of mediums consisting of gouache, watercolor, pen, and water based marker.
Malaika Jackson
The Masks of Fey
Digital Art
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 12
There is the modern idea in folklore descended from Germanic and British mythology that portrays fairies, or the fey, as essentially harmless if mischievous creatures that exist at the behest or for the service of humans, and that the goodwill of these beings are the core aspect of their being. However, the true lore is much stranger, and spans the length of dreams and nightmares, twisting arcane into horror into intrigue and back again, as the Fair Folk were one of a kind deities whose world has always worked in ways we couldn’t understand. I wanted to find a new way to portray what could be eerie in the fey who could appear in your dreams and what would mark them if they would otherwise look like ordinary people. The artist Filibuster Frog had the idea that fey were not direct mirrors of humanity or a small helpful creature on their own, but the concept of a creature who went out of their way to mold themselves from beauty, crafting every aspect of their visage to be as glorious and strange and their profession as miracle makers ought to be. The design the artist came up with stuck with me; the idea of a mask, with other parts of the body growing like bugs, obscuring and hiding a sickly mound of horrors fight beneath the exoskeleton they crafted. What would be simpler than to give those masks, those disguises, to those who look like people? In this dream, the Fair Folk look just like you do, and as beautiful as you possible could be, even as their secrets and distortions stretch and turn around you. Only note: don’t remove the mask. It will never truly be worth it.
Kaia Parker
In Your Dreams
Colored Pencil
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 12
I wanted to focus on things we dream about, more so figuratively than in a literal sense. Things we wish we had, things we want, things we desire but may not be the most beneficial, or maybe even harmful. Everybody has bad habits, but there is just something that keeps drawing you back to talking to that toxic person, that keeps you eating chips and candy in the middle of the night. There is something that has a grip on all of us that we know isnt good for us, but as humans we are always tempted.
Cora Bowen
The Flower Garden
Digital Art
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 9
I went into this piece with no plan I just started sketching an old picture with my friends where they were holding me up after winning a race. I looked at it and wondered, what can I make this into? I just began sketching out additional figures and greenery and that was when I came up with the idea to make a surreal garden. Everything has something slightly off about them, the flowers have human heads, the humans have flower heads. The bugs around are also “off” for example the butterfly has human eyes on the wings, the only normal thing is the child in the center of all the chaos, appreciating the beauty of it all. All through my life I have had a strong appreciation for the small things, bugs, lizards, little flowers. This piece is about the small things how in all the chaos the closer you look the more beauty you see.
Sofia Caballero
Cerebro De Nubes
Colored Pencil
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 9
In this work I wanted to create a woman sleeping soundly on a bed of clouds, I want to create the feeling of comfort as well as that of something strange referring to the strange and meaningless dreams that many people have had.
Avery Spicer
Under Pressure
Digital Art
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 9
I had dreamt of this balloon face before which had always freaked me out. Under pressure creates the anxiety inducing feeling that many dreams can create. The name was created because being high up in the sky creates a lot of pressure, plus, it’s a balloon. Being under pressure can also cause anxiety like the horrid face of the balloon does as well. I had hoped to create a familiar feeling for the audience, so let your mind run while looking into the eyes of it.
Charles Barreto
Instability of Mind
Digital Art
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 9
I made my piece to represent the fluctuation of emotions and how a hormonal mood swing or small event can change the way you act and feel throughout the day.
Natalie Lott
Sands of Time
Digital Art
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 12
When I heard the subject for the Dali contest was shapes of dreams I thought of some kind of landscape that would seem dreamy and strange, I started with the woman’s silhouette and went from there, I quickly thought of some kind of desert and starry night to really make it dreamy, then i added a sand clock and made the whole thing a clock to make it surreal.
Valentina Sarrin Mendoza
Fever Dream of Tomorrow
Digital Art
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Linda Galgani
Grade: 12
Whether we are awake or asleep, dreams are present. As we struggle to realize them, they inspire us and give our lives meaning. We frequently fall sleep on our dreams and the circumstances that may or may not make them come true. Younger generations have high ambitions to explore other worlds and lead mankind to a bright future, but how can we do that if we don’t care for the environment we live in? How could people aspire to a dream that couldn’t be possible if we don’t wake up before it turns into a nightmare?
Clementine Tucker
Blood and Cake
Digital Art
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Linda Galgani
Grade: 12
I never planned past being a teenager. I’m now 18 with little direction and I can’t help but wish I had a big dream to follow. It talks about my confusion as a human and how I don’t feel like the flesh and blood that’s grown with me is my own. As well as the frequent nightmares I had throughout my adolescence.
Anjulie Reyes
Under the Ocean
Digital Art
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Molly Dressel
Grade: 12
I’ve had several dreams of being in the ocean, always calm and far more vibrant than when I’m physically at the beach. A dream can feel so real that in a moment I’m there in the water and I can’t tell if it’s a memory or my imagination. It can be interpreted in so many ways, they say dreaming about the ocean can be about your life being turbulent or that serious changes are coming, but these never felt right to me. However, there was one explanation that said the ocean symbolizes being overwhelmed with emotions, and that stuck with me. You can find so many comments on what our dreams are about but we are always drawn to the ones that connect to our physical and unconscious world.
Aaralyn Holt
Bird Woman
Ink
Blake High School
Art Teacher: Linda Galgani
Grade: 12
Dreams consume our daily lives. Whether or not we acknowledge these thoughts and feelings is up to us. One of my reoccurring dreams is freedom. Freedom to go wherever I want and to speak about whatever I want. In my life, I have navigated ways to avoid the dangers of the world we live in while simultaneously being my true self. I have dreamt of growing wings and finding my own people, my own flock, since I was young. Like many young adults I am in the midst of this transformation. Birds are the freest animals on the planet. They go as high as they want, as far as they want, and have their own set of whistles and tones to communicate with their kind. I have grown my own wings. I’ve explored my limits to find there are none. I have grown a beak. I’ve learned to speak for myself. The motif of birds has followed me for a long time. I am now one of them.
Gianna Untied-Leonard
Her Epiphany
Medium
Bloomingdale High School
Art Teacher: Pamela Reeves
Grade: 11
This surrealistic work incorporates scale shift, levitation and transformation. It represents a time in my life where I felt stuck. I dared not to dream. I dared not to risk. And why? Simply because I feared failure. I built a wall that held my own creativity and curiosity prisoner. That was until someone reached in and pulled me out, teaching me to believe in myself again. Sometimes life seems to be a nightmare, but all you need is a little change in perspective and it becomes a dream.
Kaitlyn Mullen
Temporary Adventure
Acrylic
Bloomingdale High School
Art Teacher: Pamela Reeves
Grade: 12
My dream drives me into the wonderful world of the strange and the unknown. My intention is to express the strange beauty of the unconscious and to show a temporary escape from reality. I used dark and bold paint colors to capture my dream world. I used surreal techniques such as dislocation in the ship sailing through the air, and scale shift in the person and centipede, to depict the confusion and curiosity in my dream.
Roxy Deneweth
Away
Acrylic
Bloomingdale High School
Art Teacher: Pamela Reeves
Grade: 11
My vision of a dream is a place where someone can take a break from the world outside. This place has no worry about anyone’s well-being except your own. Using displacement and scale shift, my piece represents the peaceful ambience of a dream. The feeling of sleeping in a cloud by yourself is only ever experienced in a dream, and that is what I have tried to capture.
Charlie Moser
Taker of Thrones
Acrylic
Bloomingdale High School
Art Teacher: Pamela Reeves
Grade: 10
My work focuses on my personal interpretation of dreams. My dreams always take place at three different times of the day. My own dreams are surrealistic and seem to have dislocation, scale differences and juxtapositions, so I wanted to use that in my art. This is a glimpse of my mind’s eye.
Chiara Comba
Gutta Cavat Lapidem (The Drop Digs the Rock)
Watercolor
Brandon High School
Art Teacher: Ernesto Nunez
Grade: 11
My inspiration for this piece is a proverb of Latin origin, “Gutta cavat lapidem”, which translates to “The drop digs the rock” and is a metaphor: The still water cannot change stone because it is hard and resistant. However, by falling drop by drop consistently, water manages to dig and change the stone over time. The meaning of this, to me, is that with consistency, perseverance and tenacity, regardless of obstacles, even the unthinkable is possible. The water carves the mountain like wrinkles on an old man’s face.
Hala Albaba
Submerged in Delusion
Digital Art
Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School
Art Teacher: Madeilynann Mitchell
Grade: 11
I wanted to express the confusion of dreams and the constant changing of scenes within them. Moths signify transformation and change, something very similar to that concept. Something reoccurring in my personal dreams are eyes watching me from every angle, which I included in this piece. Events that occur in dreams can be very strange and absurd, but most of the time we seem unfazed by them, almost numb.
Serene Abulhiaja
Dreams or Deviancy
Digital Art
Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School
Art Teacher: Madeilynann Mitchell
Grade: 12
When working to achieve one’s dreams, one must build connections in any way they can to climb the social ladder whether through pure hospitality or through tainted deception.
Lauren Disney
Temporary Reality
Digital Art
Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School
Art Teacher: Madeilynann Mitchell
Grade: 12
The erratic mutability of dreams provide beautiful, horrific, analytical, and creative perspectives to those who experience them. From the clustered and fluid nature of dreams, this piece exemplifies the scattered yet vivid reality that we may observe for only a few hours each night.
Harrison Lee
The Escaping Leap
Digital Art
Brooks DeBartolo Collegiate High School
Art Teacher: Madeilynann Mitchell
Grade: 12
I dream to escape the trap of the “American Dream” and chase my own dreams. Recently, I have been dreaming of what life will be like beyond high school. I cannot escape the nightmare of being trapped in a toxic, corporate environment, neglecting following my passions. The image I created isn’t an exact replica of my dreams but is how they make me feel. Jumping out of the window into a pool with a no diving sign and no lifeguard is meant to show the discouraged path the person is choosing to take. Only one subject in the picture shows the interpersonal feeling of my dream. The visual effects in the piece convey the blurry feeling in trying to remember a dream.
Alexandra Trujillo
Mouth to the Mind
Mixed Media
Chamberlain High School
Art Teacher: Jacqueline Stewart
Grade: 11
My dream, or rather my nightmare, revolves around school and the stress it brings me. A lot goes on at school. The skull represents horrible people saying things that they shouldn’t and “talking out of their mouths”, while also representing me trying to express my feelings. But things just go down from there, symbolized by the staircase. The other objects just represent school, and the billiards how its all just a game.
Mariia Domina
Oneirophobia (Fear of Dreams)
Mixed Media
Chamberlain High School
Art Teacher: Jacqueline Stewart
Grade: 11
I titled my piece Oneirophobia which means a fear of dreams. I have a fear of failing while doing something that I love. The shattered ship represents me trying to escape situations that may happen, and the creatures represent the anxiety that slowly destroys my enjoyment. While imagining new worlds, I can dream about a new life as another person who is actually capable of overcoming all my fears.
Jordyn Hill
Miss Placed
Colored Pencil
Durant High School
Art Teacher: Jaclyn Bowers
Grade: 9
The important elements of my dream that I focused on were the goldfish. I had a dream about being bitten by a goldfish, so they are drawn in the sky. The crack in the fishbowl resembles the bite and there is water spilling out. I also had a dream about my aunt’s house, so there is a house in the distance. I swapped the places of the birds and the goldfish to create confusion and a surreal feeling in the piece.
Emerald Gottfredsen
The Dream Factory
Colored Pencil
Durant High School
Art Teacher: Jaclyn Bowers
Grade: 10
When brainstorming about what I should depict in my artwork, I kept coming back to the question, “How do dreams take shape?” I decided to base my illustration on my interpretation of how it happens. I wanted to invoke a feeling of mystery to reflect the mysterious nature of our dreams. To achieve this, I added eyes to look after the factory and used a cooler color scheme for most of the artwork.
Joel Patron-Vigo
Drifting Emotions
Colored Pencil
Durant High School
Art Teacher: Aaron Bowers
Grade: 12
Drifting Emotions symbolizes how dreams are a representation of our emotions. The fragility of our emotional wellbeing and identity is exemplified by the balloons and porcelain pitcher. Deep-seated insecurities, illustrated by the abnormally large eye and hands, are manifested in our lives and distorted in our dreams. The intensity of insecurities result in a broken identity and drifting emotions – emotions that can disrupt our self-worth and ability to enjoy life.
Benjamin Theriault
Megalophobia
Colored Pencil
Durant High School
Art Teacher: Aaron Bowers
Grade: 10
Megalophobia means the fear of large objects, an interesting insight into the world of my dreams. My work was colored and shaded with Prisma colored pencils. An important part of the puzzle I emphasized were the facial features. The work was inspired vaguely by the dreamlike feel of some of Dalí’s dream art.
Arielle O’Neill
Dream Paralysis
Mixed Media
Freedom High School
Art Teacher: D.J. Fintel
Grade: 12
This piece reflects a concept of “transformation” we tend to go through during our sleep: a breakage of reality that makes way for our deepest fears and identities to come to light in our subconscious. I have always had wild dreams—ones that often completely contradict my reality. My art has been heavily influenced by my own hyperactive imagination, along with other great artists, especially Salvador Dalí. With a combination of different mediums such as watercolor, colored pencils, and charcoal, I sought to capture the discomfort and fear the mind can experience while in its dreaming state.
Yesenia Martinez
Nostalgia
Colored Pencil
Freedom High School
Art Teacher: D.J. Fintel
Grade: 11
Abigail Araniego
Vanity
Ink
Freedom High School
Art Teacher: D.J. Fintel
Grade: 11
“Vanity” is about the incompleteness people could feel towards themselves. With the woman’s head detached from the body, and a malicious entity in the background, it can be interpreted as her inner conscious self-deprecating her. I used line art with forms of hatching and cross hatching to catch every last detail, with various overwhelming strokes of lines. I hope that others are able to identify with my piece as well by having experienced periods of low self-esteem, even when others deem them to be well-off.
Lilyana Radix
The Past is Always with Us
Ceramic
Freedom High School
Art Teacher: Helen Kirk
Grade: 12
The Past Is Always With Us symbolizes personal growth as the bottom portrait represents the past self, starting to break out of their shell. In contrast, the top portrait represents that the person has fully found themselves; becoming true to their intended destiny. The roots symbolize being attached to one’s past, while the rose is a subtle hint that the past is still present; hence the yellow from the bottom portrait blooming into one yellow petal on the red rose.
Adrianna Rodriguez
Set Adrift on Memory Bliss
Watercolor
Hillsborough High School
Art Teacher: Rachel Rodriguez
Grade: 12
Set Adrift on Memory Bliss takes place in my subconscious as a bridge is created between my childhood and my approaching adulthood. This watercolor work shows the chaos of my room as everything is scattered everywhere in a cluttered fashion. This work captures a moment of peace and bliss as I hold onto my childhood fantasies. The bright colors create an innocent and imaginative atmosphere as I close my eyes and take in the sounds of music.
Idelisse Rivera
Expansion of Dreams
Marker
Leto High School
Art Teacher: Jackie Lucas
Grade: 10
My piece symbolizes the impact that our childhood dreams have on our lives. Our dreams represent our memories and our imagination, and they can even be an escape from reality. As we become adults, they can serve as inspiration for creativity and provide a source of comfort during difficult times. These dreams are a nostalgic reminder of purity, innocence, and wonder as seen through the whimsical mind of a child.
Jennifer Pino
The Restless Night
Colored Pencil
Leto High School
Art Teacher: Jackie Lucas
Grade: 11
How can you dream if you cannot rest? Insomnia strips away the ability of a peaceful slumber. This piece delves into the symptoms of depression, such as insomnia. Due to the patient’s declining mental health, a psychotic episode induces her to remove her restless brain. I emulate the techniques of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night into my piece to symbolize his insomnia and subsequent psychosis. It serves as inspiration for hope during despair.
Yessika Guerrero
Crow’s Home
Colored Pencil
Leto High School
Art Teacher: Jackie Lucas
Grade: 10
Where do we really go when we pass? This piece is based on a nightmare which depicts me in a crowded room. A crow then appears in the room, taunting me and trying to attack me. The crow symbolizes my own fear of death. My artwork portrays my struggle with mortality. The child (me) is juxtaposed next to the large crow to convey the complex duality of life and death.
Kaniya Warren
Dreamy Tea Party
Colored Pencil
Middleton High School
Art Teacher: Kim Padron
Grade: 11
This piece is based on a dream I had. Though mostly through the literal third person, it was still interesting to see these beings interact with each other. So remembering that dream and the prompt being dream based. It fit perfectly and I truly enjoyed creating it. Especially since it involved my favorite things which you can tell were the axolotl, common rain frogs, and tea parties. I also enjoyed the coloring process the most. Although the process of making the piece was not hard, I just enjoyed it more. This piece was also the first time in couple of years that I got to use colored pencils. In fact, it made me get my own pack of Prisma colors. So I can continue using colors in my traditional work on my own time. Hopefully improving in my techniques of traditional art even more.
Laura Lopera Usme
Freeing Hallucinations
Mixed Media
Middleton High School
Art Teacher: Kim Padron
Grade: 9
Society’s ideas of reality bend and twist depending on each person’s interpretation. My interpretation throughout this piece is showing how the human body is a mask with thoughts [flowers] and wondering dreams [butterflies]. At night, when we no longer focus on the mask, our thoughts grow and our dreams wander to far off places. The question we all ask ourselves still remains — “What far off places are those?”
Lilly Jewett
The Cabin’s Nightmare
Watercolor
Plant High School
Art Teacher: Josephine Johnson
Grade: 11
The “cabin’s nightmare” depicts a dream that I had when I was in elementary school. Here, I depicted the end of the dream. In the dream, there was a series of floods and the puppet is used to end the flood. I used desaturated watercolors to depict the nightmare in the dream, and a symmetrical composition to focus on the puppet. The proportions are pushed to emphasize the puppet.
Kat Gerlak
Indifferent
Mixed Media
Plant High School
Art Teacher: Josephine Johnson
Grade: 12
This work’s most important element is the character in the center. To draw attention to it, it is a brighter color from the rest of the work. In this way, it also allows it to look like it’s a part of the meal, looking like butter with a garnish on top.
Maddie Adams
Soul Ties
Colored Pencil
Plant High School
Art Teacher: Josephine Johnson
Grade: 10
Soul ties: an intense connection between two beings. Two who feel as though they complete one another. A completion felt both spiritually and emotionally. In my artwork is the visual representation of the bond between two bodies. This was influenced by both soul ties and Surrealism. The relationship between the colors creates a vision you could only imagine through the unconscious mind.
Sophia Bates
Girl of My Dreams
Mixed Media
Plant High School
Art Teacher: Josephine Johnson
Grade: 12
In this work, the “dreams” being discussed are a woman’s dreams to be beautiful and the false reality created on social media. Women are judged by how well they fit the beauty standard, causing them to hide their imperfections online. The subject conceals her monstrous features so that in the camera and in her dreams, she is pretty, but as long as she values the beauty standard, she will always believe she is ugly.
Giselle Kriitberg-Leon
River Delusions
Mixed Media
Plant High School
Art Teacher: Brian Taylor
Grade: 10
For the shape of dreams, I used organic and elemental forms to represent the fluidity and hazy nature of dreams. I also included a theme of predator and pray in the surrounding creatures paired with vibrant contrasting colors to show feelings of slight unease. With acrylic paint, this work depicts the experience I have with my own subconscious.
Libby Lewis
Sacred Aura
Watercolor
Plant High School
Art Teacher: Brian Taylor
Grade: 10
When people dream it is typically in a state where they are not in control. This more often than not leads to really confusing images and thoughts. Rather, than always trying to figure out what they mean I want people to consider letting them be. What would happen if they were left to the unknown? Things don’t have to make sense all of the time and maybe its best to live with that sacred aura of chaos, to admire differences without always seeking an answer. This painting attempts to convey how beautiful life can be when we live in the mystery, even if it is messy.
Yarely Orozco-Jaimes
At Peace with Chaos
Mixed Media
Plant City High School
Art Teacher: Niki Carpenter
Grade: 10
My work is a juxtaposition of things people dream about: love, happiness, nightmares, time, and weirdness. Inspired by the swirl of images from dreams, every object represents something different/specific but is also open to interpretation and countless different meanings. In my dreams, sometimes I’m not myself and I see the life of a different person through their eyes. In this way, the art represents my own dreams and identity as well as the viewer’s.
Yazmin Hernandez-Ramirez
The Birth of Music
Photography
Plant City High School
Art Teacher: Niki Carpenter
Grade: 10
I made a collagram that represents how I feel about music. Music is something I love and when I listen to it, I daydream and make up scenarios depending on the song. Often those scenarios become dreams and those dreams become inspiration for my artwork. I used both juxtaposition and superimposition to have the heart on the girl’s chest and the heart on the girl’s head show how music affects my dream.
Preston Smith
How Basic do We Have to be to Get Here?
Colored Pencil
Riverview High School
Art Teacher: Emily Griest
Grade: 12
I based this piece off of a dream I had about fishing with my father in a Ukrainian river. My dad and I have a very close relationship so it was a nice dream that felt vividly nostalgic and had an environment that really stood out to me. I used colored pencil to make it because I wanted to emphasize the richness of color and make the natural aspect of the piece blend together familiarly.
Kratos Loveless
Celestial Divinity
Digital Art
Riverview High School
Art Teacher: Emily Griest
Grade: 12
When I dream, I find that I’m not myself anymore, and I’m walking in shoes belonging to someone else. In this waltz, I’m living through a woman floating through the outer-planes of the universe. There, I find floating clouds of hues, green planets, chilly purple waves, and praying birds eyeing my floating body. As I drift, I admire the scenery despite the looming presence of the other worldly birds, waiting for my eyes to flutter.
Anya O’Neill
Dreamscape
Watercolor
Sickles High School
Art Teacher: Cheyanne Causby
Grade: 9
In my dreams I feel free from the stresses of day-to-day life. I no longer need to swim; I can float with no effort. I wanted to incorporate this aspect into my painting. The feelings of calmness and beauty; becoming a baby again and listening to a lullaby while your mother rocks you to sleep. My dreams don’t need meaning, I can be free of thoughts and simply feel the serenity surrounding me.
Gabrielle Watanabe
Wishful Thinking
Ink
Sickles High School
Art Teacher: Cheyanne Causby
Grade: 11
My piece is a self-portrait, meant to highlight how much of myself I attempt to put into my art. The elements surrounding my art, from the bunnies forming from the face to the grass growing from the arm, are all common things found in my pieces. If I dreamed of myself, this is what I would like to see.
Logan Hanson
Space Demetia
Mixed Media
Sickles High School
Art Teacher: Eric Milan
Grade: 10
This piece illustrates how there can be nothing in something if never viewed by anyone, the lifeless astronaut is floating in space surrounded by dreamlike characters, to create the characters I used fine ink pens and alcohol markers and for the space background I used darker value watercolors.
Stephanie Swartz
Inner Understanding
Mixed Media
Sickles High School
Art Teacher: Eric Milan
Grade: 12
I portrayed the feelings of dreams and how they intertwine with our thoughts and emotions. Dreaming can lead to understanding the inner self and becoming in tune with the spirit. Symbolism in dreams resembles how real life affects us mentally. The metamorphosis of the fish’s growth shows how dreams reflect life. The trees show growth and decay, and the pool below the eyes shows how emotions come out during dreams, seen by the tears falling.
Owen Saperstein
Nightmare
Digital Art
Sickles High School
Art Teacher: Eric Milan
Grade: 11
The kind of dream I wanted to interpret was a nightmare. The dream itself is drawn in a very graphic style with very little emphasis on rendering to give it a surreal, dream-like feeling with a nightmarish beast rising from a dark, negative space. The black and red contrasts with the much more soothing setting of the bottom half of the piece, which depicts a boy sleeping under gentle moonlight. However, his room is drawn in crooked lines that don’t precisely follow the rules of perspective to still give an uneasy feeling. I feel like my piece is drastically different from Dali’s style as it more emphasizes lines and shape.
Dayna Lurie
Golden Dream
Mixed Media
Sickles High School
Art Teacher: Cheyanne Causby
Grade: 12
For this piece, I wanted to depict the essence of dreams, represented by the large cartoon-styled stars, being morphed into majestic creatures that could only exist in the dreamscape. Using lots of movement, I replicated the flowy nature and dreams and the majestic creatures to emphasize imagination in my piece.
Katalina Urra
The Hermit
Graphite
Spoto High School
Art Teacher: Grace Regan
Grade: 10
The depiction of my dream focuses on two key concepts, separation and demise. I used a feline skull to represent death. To show how swift and fierce the departure of life can be I used muscular structures that appear to be pulling away from the skull in all directions. I wanted to show the immediate and long-term process of physical deconstruction. The human eyes represent our ability to observe the physical and metaphysical process of death through dream.
Rachel Vance
Skin Crawlers Sanctuary
Mixed Media
Sumner High School
Art Teacher: Juan Duarte
Grade: 10
Once I had a bad dream about these fluffy-scary looking caterpillars I remember seeing; they can cause rashes. They were eating away a concrete prison I was in to reveal the depths of space – I know, quite strange. They make my skin crawl, nobody likes them, and they reproduce too much, so the only place these creatures could go where we will not see them is in space, in their own little sanctuary. It is like a dream come true.
Aliyah Gomez
Heart of Gold
Digital Art
Sumner High School
Art Teacher: Michael Edwards
Grade: 12
I really wanted to put my mind to the test and create something dreamlike, but also have a meaning behind it. I really wanted to focus my viewers attention to this big red heart spilling out gold for people that have such pure souls like me, who trust and love people for who they are without questions asked. But people take advantage of pure hearted souls with greed and hollowness. I wanted to represent the skeleton as hollow figure with a dark colored broken heart. The eye ball is a reptile eye to show the greed of someone’s true self. Having a heart of gold can cause people to feed off them, they only see shiny things, and take it for themselves, so that’s what I wanted to represent. I would say my art is quite different from Dali just in the sense, no one can have the same art, everyone has their own style, but there’s always a meaning behind a masterpiece.
Piper Bell
Fata Morgana
Digital Art
Sumner High School
Art Teacher: Michael Edwards
Grade: 10
In this piece I chose a woman looking into a vanity mirror set on the water. I wanted to place the focus on the water because I thought it would be interesting to represent a different kind of dream in this piece. I depicted an illusion called Fata Morgana which is a mirage sailors often saw on the horizon. This piece means a lot to me because my grandmother thought me about the phrase Fata Morgana.
Erik Checo
Owd
Digital Art
Sumner High School
Art Teacher: Michael Edwards
Grade: 12
I created a dreamlike world run by dogs, with soft colors and whimsical imagery. I created stylized shapes and bold lines using a sketchbook phone app and technical pen. Inspired by Pablo Picasso, my goal was to create a familiar yet strange world that invites the viewer to question power dynamics and relationships between species. The soft colors and playful elements aim to provoke interpretation of the viewer’s own dreams.
Sofia Celis
Imprisonment Tower
Digital Art
Sumner High School
Art Teacher: Michael Edwards
Grade: 12
The Imprisonment Tower incorporates a dreamlike world because at first it is just a simple photo of a bunch of important towers around the world. But once you look deeper in you see much more. One of the towers in this artwork is Obelisco de Buenos Aires, a tower standing in the center of Argentina’s Capital. Argentina is special to me because it is where I was born and I am half Argentinian.
Jasmine Lopez
The Eye Doesn’t Fall Far from the Tree
Pottery
Sumner High School
Art Teacher: Valerie Skindel
Grade: 9
Being an insightful individual has always been a want and goal of mine, so I made sure to represent that as my identity using objects such as the eyes (pun intended!). My piece represents my core identity as the biggest eyeball on the tree, and the other eyeballs that have fallen represent traits that I have acquired for a purpose but no longer need.
Emily Santos
Come One, Come All: Join Us for a Spectacular Evening
Pottery
Sumner High School
Art Teacher: Valerie Skindel
Grade: 12
The characters who live in this circus house put on a daily show every night at 7:00 pm. They are truly passionate about their production. After the show they rest their weary bodies in their comfortable beds, ready to start the next day. The exhibit’s dream theme influenced me to create a whimsical and vibrant piece. My identity can be expressed through this sculpture, as I am always trying to hold on to my imagination and creativity.
Ellyce Franklin
Melting Beauty
Acrylic
Wharton High School
Art Teacher: Curt Steckel
Grade: 11
My dream depicts how there is still beauty even in the bad. I want people to look deep down inside and see how they are beautiful, no matter what anyone says. If you are a good person, you are beautiful.
Mahogany Wright
Wandering Eye
Mixed Media
Wharton High School
Art Teacher: Curt Steckel
Grade: 9
Important elements in my dream are the infinite white room that appears in a portion of all my dreams and sometimes a giant red eye. I used alcohol markers and colored pencil over top. I don’t always know the meaning behind my dreams, but I felt like this one was more open to interpretation for viewers. The skin tone of the eyelids and the texture of the hair all contribute to my black identity.
Shriya Patnaik
The Half Reality
Mixed Media
Wharton High School
Art Teacher: Curt Steckel
Grade: 10
My dreams are represented through this picture by nightmares on the right-hand side and sweet dreams on the left-hand side. This shows both the darker and the sweeter versions of our dreams. My purpose was to imply the complexity of different people’s minds.
Simran Wadhera
Changes through Nature
Mixed Media
Wharton High School
Art Teacher: Curt Steckel
Grade: 9
My piece, Changes Through Nature, shows how everyone and everything go through changes at some point in life. Some physical features that change can be height, facial features, hair, etc. I drew it in a sort-of dreamlike vision by drawing the mushrooms growing out of a girl. I feel like my dream art is different from Dalí’s dream art because everyone has their own unique style.
Emily Tran
Abnormal
Mixed Media
Cambridge Christian School
Art Teacher: Amy Dayton
Grade: 10
In a dream the simplest things can twist to portray a hidden message; the eyes behind the puppet symbolize the eyes of students who train their attention on the “abnormal one.” The monster on the board represents a teacher watching the “abnormal one” closely. A clock inside the puppet representing a timed life. The butterflies in this artwork symbolize the passing life into another place.
Landry Barnard
Is it Safe?
Mixed Media
Cambridge Christian School
Art Teacher: Amy Dayton
Grade: 10
My dreams often seem to take place in an atmosphere of peace and safety, yet they also appear to be somewhat eerie. In my dreams I find myself in circumstances where I have to act like everything is alright even though the mess I’m hiding sometimes seems to come out.
Abigail Green
Cover the Mirror
Mixed Media
Cambridge Christian School
Art Teacher: Amy Dayton
Grade: 11
In my piece, I chose to depict the idea of depersonalization. The self-written messages on the walls say she cannot escape and the cool monochromatic colors add to that dream-like part of life. The blue tiles and the climbing hair try to pull the girl down, but the image on the other side of the mirror, and the warm colors show her that escape is possible.
Click here for more in formation about The Student Surrealist Art Exhibit.