Dreaming in Halftones: Imaginary Creatures in Unlikely Places

Although the screen prints in this exhibit are products of his imagination, Dale hopes they will spark the viewers’ imaginations, inspiring them to create their own little stories and scenarios about the images.   The inspirations for this project are various: pop art of the 1960s, surrealism, daydreams, nostalgia, old comic books, silly cartoons, trips around the U.S., natural history museums, winged creatures (birds, bugs, and angels), weird juxtapositions, and lucky combinations. Dale’s love of photography ties all of these things together.  Not only has photography been Dale’s gateway to the world of art, but it also makes his world visually rich and endlessly fascinating. As Alec Soth said, “I fell in love with photography because it was an excuse to wander around alone.” Although Dale loves to wander around alone with his camera, being a part of the photography community at Viewpoint has been a fun and rewarding way to take his work to a higher level.

A note about Dale’s screen-printing process: Each image was constructed in Photoshop by pasting and layering his own digital photos.  He contact printed an inkjet transparency of the image onto a fine-mesh screen coated with photo emulsion. He developed the screen by hosing it with water, creating a detailed photo stencil.  Finally, to make the print, he pushed ink through the screen with a squeegee onto a sheet of paper.