Dale Kalbfleisch - Artist Statement

These panels, these works are a tribute to our land, to my roots and history and to those who tend this land. They boast of my love of and being charmed by our land.  I see an opportunity to connect with and be alert to our land; to take tiny steps toward wholeness and to treasure the land’s rhythm and life. A chance to reflect and marvel, and acknowledge this mystery.

My impressions are precious to me – they are ‘icon-like’. My images are: seeing after a long look, the blink after the stare, the impression of a snapshot and the stillness between breaths. A testament of a glimpse.

I am fascinated with fluid forms (the grown crops move in the wind and appear filled with life when lying in their undulating swaths), and the nuances of layers, geometry & patterns, light & color. The welcome rhythm in the repetitive rows of fence posts, telephone and power poles, road intersections, and the precious fields enclosed and defined by their range and township roads, all these capture my imagination.

I owe thanks to those tending this land, and feel significantly comforted and redeemed because of them and their work.

My panels start with veneer or solid wood, chosen for grain & natural color, then sketching, routing, staining, shading, inking and lacquer. The images have depth & contrast. The frames reveal and contribute their grain, the texture of a resawn surface, then perhaps a penetrating stain & paint - all of this revealing a subtle and supportive layered border.