Creating Emotion: Longtime DeKalb artist Dale Osterle's works exhibited at Glidden Goods

DeKALB – When viewing a landscape with a beauty that takes your breath away, most people reach for their camera to capture the moment. Dale Osterle creates original works of art from memory from places that she has been.

Osterle, who is originally from Boston, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and her teaching certificate from Southern Connecticut State College. She spent more than 20 years at Northern Illinois University with printmaker David Driesbach. She studied extensively and traveled abroad, taking trips to China, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

From May 14 until June 27, Osterle’s work will be on exhibit at Glidden Goods, located inside Glidden Campus Florist, 917 W. Lincoln Highway in DeKalb.

The exhibit’s opening reception will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 17, which also is Osterle’s 71st birthday. The celebration will include birthday cake, zucchini bread, Norwegian biscotti and refreshments. It is uncertain whether Osterle will be in attendance due to health issues and the recent death of her husband.

The exhibit, the largest collection of Osterle’s artwork compiled in one event, will include more than 50 of her hand-painted intaglio prints. Intaglio prints are created when a design is imprinted into a metal plate either with acid or by etching. The image is then embossed into paper and hand-colored. Most of her intaglios are etched onto copper plates and printed on acid-free Arches rags.

“A lot of her early work features landscapes and were not copied from photographs, but from memory, from places she had been,” said co-curator Daniel Grych of The Art Box in DeKalb. “They are not photorealistic and are on the abstract side. The landscapes come from experiences she witnessed in one way or another and made an impact on her life.”

The exhibit will include both hand-painted landscapes and portraits. Her editions are always small, with only 20 works in each edition.

“Her portraits are more satirical and are usually of iconic people: movie stars, presidents and even a self-portrait,” Grych said. “She also uses more surface embellishments and metallic paints in her portraits. She uses glitter, sequins and rhinestones. Her true personality comes out in her portraits.”

Grych chose to name the show “Off Broadway, a Retrospect” partially because of the distance between Glidden Goods and downtown DeKalb.

“It also associates a full circle, when a person is just starting their career as a performing artist, and when they return to their roots,” he said. “It is a period when an artist receives love and support from friends and family. This is going to be a huge show, and the stage lights will be lit.”

All of Osterle’s displayed artwork will be for sale. Prices will be reduced by 20 percent for the exhibition and proceeds will be given to Osterle and her family.

“Dale has her own style, and you don’t mistake it for somebody else’s,” said Sven Oscar Hansen, owner of Glidden Florist and Glidden Goods. “Her art has a beautiful color palette and it hangs in art galleries all over the country and the world, including the United Nations, the Kennedy Center and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.”

Hansen first thought of the idea for an art exhibit more than a month ago. He said after featuring pieces of her artwork in his store, he wanted to create a show that would be free and open to the entire community.

“People have been following Dale’s art for at least 40 years,” Hansen said. “The show will give a unique opportunity for people to come, see her artwork and buy it. … I think that an important aspect of good art is that it creates an emotion in the viewer and allows them to share in the artist’s experiences. I own three pieces of Dale’s work, and they each create an emotional feeling.”