Dale was born in Seattle, Washington, but grew up in Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. He graduated from Washington State University with a degree in English. After living for short periods in Boise, San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles, he returned to Seattle living there many years until moving to Whidbey Island in 2006. Through poetry, fiction, play writing, and owning and operating two successful businesses, Dale finally arrived at painting in 1991 and added kiln formed glass in 2005.
Dale describes his style as both primitive and elegant. Themes from his paintings flow into his glass. Painting is the process of scratching, scrawling, rubbing, pouring, dripping, brushing, scraping, or spraying paint. It's a voyage of experimentation both controlled and uncontrolled. There is sheer joy and magic in the liquid creativity. Paintings are begun without a set plan but a loose style arising from the unconscious, dreams and/or the relationship to marks, shapes and colors already on the canvas. Bright colors are used, partially to counteract grey skies of the Pacific NW. There is a dialogue between the harmony, contrast or dissonance of one color to another. Dale is further fascinated by the dance between line and shape. The goal is to create a symphony between the shapes, lines and color. He uses acrylic paint, marker, crayon or pencil on canvas, wood, fabric and/or metal. Most of Dale's kiln formed glass is a combination of fusing and casting. Most pieces require multiple firings. His table tops and clear glass sculptures are up to 3" thick. His multi colored glass houses and sculptures are thick cast, iridized plates of glass embedded with murrini or dichroic glass over a metal superstructure. These sculptures, some over 8' tall, are for indoor or outdoor use and have interior lighting. Dale has installed over fifteen pieces of public art in CA, OR and WA. He large studio features 4 large kilns, the biggest being capable of making glass up to 7 feet long. Dale's studio is located on Whidbey Island, WA, He lives with his wife, Teri Jo Summer-Reiger, (www.terijosummer.com) a well known clothing designer and fabric artist. They have family nearby and, also, a goofball dog named Sasha. |
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