Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2015.

Images(2)

I Was Dreaming of Spirit Animals

Artist Catherine "Cappy" Thompson (American, b. 1952)

CultureAmerican

Date1997

MediumBlown and enameled glass

DimensionsHeight: 11 3/8 in. (28.9 cm)
Rim: 15 3/4 in. (40 cm)

InscribedOn base, engraved: "I Was Dreaming of Spirit Animals Cappy Thompson 1997"

Credit LineMuseum purchase and gift of the Peninsula Glass Guild

Object number97.45

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 115-2 - Wonderstudio

DescriptionThis blown glass bowl with its flaring rim, is reverse painted in transparent polychrome enamel with a dream image depicting a sleeping figure (the artist) floating over Olympia, Washington, against a brilliant blue star-studded sky with moon; three bears are on the ground, and five owls sit in fir trees. The iconography is highly personal as it is derived from dreams that the artist had and recorded while she was in her twenties. The sleeping figure is a self-portrait; the blanket is decorated with mermaids holding a lotus - a personal trademark of the artist. The domed building represents the Washington State capital in Olympia, Washington. She sees bears as symbols of healing and the moon was personified by an Eskimo woman. "The vessel depicts me as a dreamer afloat in the night sky hovering above a townscape amid a Northwest forest where white owls are perched when a great celestial bear kisses me." --Cappy Thompson

Label TextCatherine "Cappy" Thompson American (b. 1952) I Was Dreaming of Spirit Animals, 1997 Blown and enameled glass Museum purchase and gift of the Peninsula Glass Guild 97.45 Cappy Thompson came to glass as a painter and printmaker in 1975, when she began a summer job working in a stained glass studio near Olympia, Washington. Her fascination with both the subject and technique of medieval stained glass, typically a public art form, was quickly transferred to the intimate space of a vessel. Her images marry various cultural mythologies and her need for self-expression. Elements would drift up and assemble into picture-poems that seemed to have a life of their own. I began to "read" these works as reflections of the spiritual and psychological issues in my life. I painted members of my family and myself in a kind of autobiographical fantasy, working with the mythopoetic materials of my life. I cast myself into scenes from various world spiritual traditions. This bowl, with its highly personal narrative imagery, commemorates a series of vivid dreams that the artist recorded in her journal while she was in her twenties. Thompson is the dreamer floating in the night sky, her blanket decorated with her trademark lotus held by mermaids. The buildings below represent Olympia, the capital of Washington State. In her dreams, Thompson was kissed by a great celestial bear (she sees bears as symbols of healing), met the moon (personified by an Eskimo woman), and saw white owls in fir trees. Exhibition History"Women of the Chrysler: a 400-Year Celebration of the Arts," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., March 24 - July 18, 2010. "Man's Best Friends," Selden Arcade, Norfolk, VA, August 27 - October 19, 2013.Published References_Journal of Glass Studies_, Vol. 40 (Corning, NY: The Corning Museum of Glass, 1998), No. 73, p. 177; Fig. 73, p. 177. "New Acquisition Highlights. Dreams Recreated in Glass," _The Chrysler Museum of Art and Historic Houses Calendar of Events_, (March 1998), ill. p. 5 (b/w). Joe Porcelli, _Stained Glass Jewels of Light_, (New York: Michael Friedman Publishing Group Inc., 1998) p. 135 Diane C. Wright (editor), _Glass Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017), pg. 26, fig. 11.