Spotlight on Artist: Dale Kirschenman

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Dale Kirschenman, "Promise of the Morning," 2021

oil on birch panel, 8" x 10"

Spotlight on Artist: Dale Kirschenman

"I have been painting landscapes and abstract landscapes for over three decades. Stylistically the paintings range from semi-realistic impressionism to totally abstracted images.  Progression toward abstraction has allowed for more spontaneous imagery where gesture, surface and colour dominate.

I strive to create images where the qualities of the mark making and the paint itself areas important as any conceptual content. Gestural drawings establish the foundation of the image and subsequent marks, layers and edges create a unified and dynamic image. I work in series and often I have several paintings underway in the studio so that I may interact and work with them simultaneously, letting them inform me as I bring them to completion.

Rather than defining a particular subject they provide portals to imagination and memory. The meaning or sense of recognition in the painting is left for the viewer although the titles supply points of entry or clues to my connection to the images. To me, the paintings are distillations of art history, memory, studio practice and life experience. Hopefully, the images convey an essence of these and invoke a meaningful response for viewer." - Dale Kirschenman

Dale Kirschenman grew up the Sandy Point area near Medicine Hat, Alberta.

He studied painting at The Alberta University of the of The Arts and graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting. He has been showing and selling with galleries since then. Kirschenman creates landscapes as well as expressionistic abstract images.

Having grown up on the Canadian prairies, many of his paintings illustrate the vastness of the land, the limitless horizon and the dome of the sky. Weather events like chinooks and storms along with the drama of foothills and mountains of Alberta are ubiquitous in his early work. His recent abstract paintings are inspired by urban environments.

In addition to his painting practice Dale has facilitated painting classes and workshops at various institutions and in his home studio. His paintings are present in the collection of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Civic Art Collection of the City of Calgary as well as numerous private and corporate collections in Canada, the U.S.A.  Living and working in Calgary, the surrounding landscapes continue to influence and inspire his painting and photography.