The House of Dreams Museum

Started in 1998, by the late artist Donald Jones and his surviving partner Stephen Wright, the House of Dreams Museum is home, art gallery, and personal record all displayed using the artist’s far ranging obsessions.

The initial aim of the space was to embellish the entirety of the interior and exterior of their home and garden. However, as the project developed it became a diary of their lives. From childhood, through bereavement, love, and a spiritual relationship with Mexico, to which Wright feels a special affinity, each little detail holds special meaning. All of this is combined with influences from Haiti and South America.

Amongst the ubiquitous mosaics are large “Spirit” sculptures alongside shrines and hand-written memory boards recording events from the past, present, and future. The artworks are created from a wide range of materials such as dolls with disabilities, false teeth, used wigs, old toys, dirty used combs, and old wills, letters, and photographs collected from the junk markets of Paris, Brussels, Budapest, and other European cities.

Recently Vince Rogers, a filmmaker from the BBC produced a short film about the project using archive film going back to 1998. A Canadian TV Channel is also currently producing a short documentary about the House of Dreams Museum. Wright and his current partner Michael Vaughan have also recently produced a book about the home. Alongside these indelible documents of the cacophonous home, Wright’s works have been bestowed to the National Trust so that when the death visible in so much of Wright’s work comes for the artist himself, the House of Dreams will live on.