Deirdre Barrett

Deirdre Barrett‘s academic training is in psychology and dream research. She teaches at Harvard and is the author of eight books including The Committee of Sleep, Trauma and Dreams, and Supernormal Stimuli. Her research on dreaming has been featured on major US television networks, NPR, BBC, and most major print outlets including the cover of The New York Times Magazine in 2021.
Eight years ago, Barrett began creating digital paintings from her dreams, and more recently, has also been working with deep learning AI imagery generation. Her surreal imagery brings a reality to the dreaming world’s fantasies and magical events while exploring the thin boundaries between the inanimate and the sentient in our collective unconscious. “My goal is for the viewer to experience a connection with the dream world,” says Barrett, “to catch a glimpse of one of my dream moments, but more importantly, to connect with their own nocturnal realms from the vantage of the waking self.”

Gallery Representation
2022-present Kessler Collection Grand Bohemian Galleries—Six galleries in GA, FL, AL, NC, SC.
2018-present Keep Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Awards
2022 Winners of The Kessler Collection “Next Original” national competition
Winning art was displayed on billboard in Times Square Dec. 30-Jan 1st
Awarded 1-year representation in 6 of the Kessler Collection Bohemian Galleries
2017 International Association for the Study of Dreams Art Show, Anaheim, CA
Won cash second prize & piece sold in show

Publication of Art
2022/23—Night Ventures into the Light on New Year’s Times Square Billboard by The Kessler Collection
2023 Strange Times on cover of Éduquer aux enjeux sociétaux par les arts et la littérature,
Ed. Pierre & Maia Morel (In press for 2023)
2023 Covidtown in book, I, Like Many Things. (pub. Yale School of Architecture)
2022 Night Ventures into the Light in Harvard Medicine-Magazine of Harvard Medical School
2020 Strange Times published in National Geographic
2020 Strange Times in French magazine, L’Intimiste.
2020 Help, I can’t wake up! on cover of my own book, Pandemic Dreams
2019 The Harvard Lampoon on the cover of Dream Time and other works inside along with an article on my dream art.