A new exhibition of 2D work by local artist Stephenie Thomas Berry entitled “Dreaming Animals” opens in the Owen Gallery on April 19, 2025, and will run through May 24. Stephenie is a writer and pastel artist focused primarily on the spiritual relationship with the Earth.
Her exhibition explores dreamwork specifically through the lens of animal dreams. Mining her many journals, of both dreams and mystical experiences in nature, she explores not only her own dreams but also imagines what our animal kin may be dreaming. This exhibition seeks to assert not only the importance of dreaming as a human practice but also to bear witness to the profound evolutionary significance of dreaming as a biological necessity that strengthens the web of consciousness in which we are enmeshed.
Stephenie explains, “Long before complex language, or tools, our deepest ancestors were dreaming. I would even argue that dreamwork––communal dreamwork in particular––is one of the foundations for the development of art, ritual, and culture. Many of my most potent dreams have been dreams of animals. When we dream of animals, we have entered a deep place in the dream world, for we have left our human-centric world and entered a forest filled with other ways of knowing and being. These are the dreams that wildly inspire us, or shake us loose of our moorings, and deliver us to the mystery of life.”
Stephenie lives in the Burnsville area and has been a studio artist since 2006. Her poetry has been published in Appalachian Heritage, Great Smokies Review and the anthology Obsession: Sestinas for the Twenty-First Century, among other publications. She maintains an active and growing subscription email list that features new art, writing and is published approximately 10 times a year. Visit her website www.stephenie.studio to see more of her work and to subscribe.
Toe River Arts is located at 269 Oak Ave, Spruce Pine, NC. Gallery hours are 10:30am – 5 pm, Tues -Sat.
For more information email kathryn@toeriverarts.org or call 828-765-0520.
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