Presbyterian College’s Lassiter Professor of Art Mark Anderson was recently awarded both First Place as well as the People’s Choice award for two of his paintings during the International Association for the Study of Dreams Conference, held in June in Virginia Beach.

“I was very pleasantly gratified at the outpouring of interest in and support for my work at the conference,” said Anderson. “I have met so many new friends from all around the world! This really is very encouraging.”

The paintings – Dreaming in the Doorway and Dark Passage – were first shown in his “Tabernacle in the Wilderness” exhibit that took place on the PC campus January 2014 – February 2015 at the Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery. Speaking back in February about the exhibit and its featured paintings, Anderson said, “The images in my paintings are not exactly illustrations of dreams as much as re-combinations or visual musings based on compounded dream images.” He continued, “I also explore the dream sense of time and space and the mood or lighting found in dreams or the visual nature of unusual waking experiences or encounters Jung would call synchronicities in daily life.”

According to the International Association for the Study of Dreams website the association “is a non-profit, international, multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the pure and applied investigation of dreams and dreaming.” The statement continues with, “our purposes are to promote an awareness and appreciation of dreams in both professional and public arenas; to encourage research into the nature, function, and significance of dreaming; to advance the application of the study of dreams, and to provide a forum for the eclectic and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and information.”

While at the conference, Anderson also made a presentation on associative recombination and projective amplification in dream work and artistic endeavor and submitted two additional paintings to the juried Dream Art Exhibit, held in conjunction with the conference.