Saskia Becker redefines 'dreamscape'

Resident artist Saskia Becker graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from Colorado State University. Though born in Holland, Becker spent most of her childhood in Fort Collins, Colorado, but credits family trips back to Holland as planting seeds of interest in an art career.

Recalling family outings to museums, Becker said, ''My parents were really good about taking us to amazing places and that probably had an influence. I remember my aunt gave us books about Rembrandt, DaVinci and Michelangelo. I romanticized art in my head from a young age, but for the most part, choosing to be an artist was an independent decision."

Becker's parents have engineering and marketing backgrounds but have always been supportive of her career choice.

She laughed and said, ''Even though they don't understand a Jot of what I do, they still care and support it. They trust me, and I appreciate it."

The allure of dreams

Dreams are defined as a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Becker brings these images and emotions into the light of day and on to canvas.

She said, "I've always been interested in stories, narratives, myths, legends and things like that. Dreams are often just stories or archetypal story lines dressed up in different chamcters rn1d themes and sets. I tllink I was drawn to that for tile theatrical storytelling aspect. There is so much inspiration and imagination in dreams. I'm also interested in unexpected stories and the weird ones that catch you by surprise, and dreams definitely have all of tllat."

For Becker, translating dreams to canvas involves a combination of sculpture, photography and oil painting.

She said, "1 really like the aspect of viewing dreams as theater, so I like to set up little dioramas and put them together and fmd multiple objects to tell the story. I find that to be a really interesting visual aspect to play with the space and draw people in."

She then photographs the sets and uses them as points of reference for her paintings and drawings.

Covid - a looming presence

Becker's work is known throughout northern Colorado and it's through her drerun groups that she has seen ''the looming presence of Covid."

Providing a historical point of reference for her own work with people and their dreams, Becker said, "There was a book written during World War II called, 'The Third Reich ofDrearns.' A lady went around collecting dreams from people in Germany, and so many had these themes of dictatorship and censorship. It had taken over this whole generation of people."

She continued, "Covid, I think, has definitely done the same. People are having dreams about getting sick and mass takeovers, and these weird things kept coming up. Covid was a universal thing so everyone was hearing about it, talking about it every day, and it had a huge impact on people's dreams."

When asked If there is a therapeutic value to her work, Becker said, "I would hope it can be considered therapeutic for my subject. It definitely is therapeutic for me and it helps me work out the meaning of the dream or what the dream is actually trying to get to."

Residency in review

Reflecting on her NAIR residency, Becker said, "The work has taken a 180 degree turn. I started making linages about Navasota that really struck me. My biggest accomplishment is being brave enough to go in a different direction. Choosing to change is definitely risky but l'm proud that I did it."

Becker continued, "The biggest thing that has made the residency what it is, is the community and how different people in different roles have stepped up to help us out and support us in different ways. All people from the community - not because they have to, but because they want to."

March 3 marks the end of Becker's stay in Navasota. From here, it's on to graduate school but tllis dream artist's dreams are of a future teaching art, painting and exhibiting her work in a gallery.