The Reverie Tree

The concept of ‘The Reverie Tree’ was inspired by the William Butler Yeats’ poem, ‘Before The World Was Made,’ which subtly underscores the idea of an inner, original self or identity that exists before the trappings of the world. The poem expresses a yearning for the self that existed “before the world was made,” of a search for authenticity and identity. I believe that breaking apart fixed realities through collage gives voice to this pre-social self.

I was intrigued to learn that Gysin, Burroughs and Bowie liked to use cut-up text to create story. As a visual artist, this also speaks to me because we can play with imagery in the same way we can play with words. We can break up fixed images to re-create visual stories that carry our unique signature.

I read once about how a psychogeographer used the London Underground map as a guide to wander through Paris, letting two cities overlap to create a personal mythology of place. It is a playful dérive where familiar lines and stations from London can become portals into Parisian streets, where city scenes are playfully paired and new worlds dreamed up.

Branches as Living Maps

The tree in The Reverie Tree is metaphorical – it is a keeper of poems and stories, a theatre of dreams. It functions like a space where multiple narratives, memories and creative impulses grow and intertwine – much like branches, roots and leaves of a tree.

In The Reverie Tree workshop, we will explore words and images, follow the journeys they take us on and recognise the freedom that art gifts us to interpret and play with story.

Mixed media offers infinite possibilities for storytelling, for blending materials and worlds, for re-creating visual narratives.

Sometimes the story we begin with may be very different to the finished piece. This is the beauty of creating. It takes us on endless adventures.

Collage finds beauty in what already exists, in the overlooked and the ordinary, each piece like a small conversation between chance and intention. It is a gentle reminder that meaning can emerge from the things we gather along the way. It whispers rather than shouts.

Before The World Was Made

If I make the lashes dark

And the eyes more bright

And the lips more scarlet,

Or ask if all be right

From mirror after mirror,

No vanity’s displayed:

I’m looking for the face I had

Before the world was made.

What if I look upon a man

As though on my beloved,

And my blood be cold the while

And my heart unmoved?

Why should he think me cruel

Or that he is betrayed?

I’d have him love the thing that was

Before the world was made.

_{‘The Reverie Tree’ – a keeper of poems and stories, a theatre of dreams.}

_{(Year-round workshops take place at The Farm Gallery, Kilmeaden; however, through prior arrangement, they can be facilitated at an alternative venue.)}

Psychogeography and Life Story