Biography: Birdy McCray is from Placerville, California. From 2008-2011, she studied art at Folsom Lake College, and was an active member of The Upstairs Art Gallery (Gallery 420) where she ran figure drawing groups, had an artist studio, and a retail shop. In 2013, she relocated to finish her bachelor’s degree in art at The University of Nevada, Reno, and shifted her focus to digital media. She is currently a Master of Fine Arts student at UNR in her final year.

Artist Statement: When waking up or falling asleep we cross a threshold where we forget who we are and what we have done. My art looks at objects, text, themes, and locations from dreams to inspire the viewer to question whether they are asleep or awake. The simple task of questioning your surroundings during the day, can lead you to enter conscious dreams at night. Conscious dreams, commonly known as lucid dreams, have the potential to open the door to: exploring your desires, overcoming your fears, and even assisting in learning new skills. The work showcases unusual objects that I have encountered in dreams, and utilizes colors commonly reported by dreamers. When creating these objects or working with these colors, I practice asking myself, “am I asleep?” to inspire me to lucid dream. The more I have incorporated this into my practice, the closer I have got to entering conscious sleep. The video included showcases transitional spaces and the eeriness of wandering in dreamscapes. Additionally, the audio included has been recorded in multiple nonsense languages (similar to Pig Latin) from international voice actors telling the viewer that, “this is a dream.”