Dale Spellman Exhibit "Memories..."
(September 3, 2010 - November 15, 2010)

The Dacotah Prairie Museum announced the opening of a new exhibition spanning 60 years of Dale Spellman’s paintings appropriately called “Memories…”

Dale Spellman has been a painter all his life. Most of his career has been centered on being a commercial painting contractor, taking over a business that his father, William Spellman, started in 1933. Bill is also the name of his son who now oversees the Spellman Painting business in Aberdeen since Dale’s retirement in 2003.

Today, Dale Spellman paints in the fine art field, mostly with acrylic paint, taking up an avocation he hadn’t had much time for since his college days in the Northern State College art department. For the past ten years, he has painted extensively in still life and portraits, and recently adding large scale landscapes to his accomplishments.

Dale’s portraits feature subjects he relates well to, his family including his wife Joan and several of his eight children and numerous grandchildren have all appeared in his paintings. As his painting techniques matured, his subjects have also shown more depth and detail. Landscapes, especially a huge canvas showing the autumn prairie and a herd of bison in action entitled “Tatanka Rut”, are a new interest. Birds catch the interest of the artist as the painting of a rooster in vivid detail pictured amidst a barnyard scene, named “The Overseer” or a delicate depiction of goldfinches on a muted green background.

“I’m mostly self taught,” says the artist, “I learned about colors, glazes, and handling a brush as a painting contractor.” His experience is evident in the luminous brushwork of his still life “Blue Rooster”, where he paints a glass rooster figurine with perfect reflection.

“Painting pictures to me is a lot of work with a great satisfaction when each picture is finished…I hope (everyone) will find something to enjoy or relate to,” states the artist.

For information on past exhibits in the Dacotah Gallery, please click here.