VISAGE

FACE TO FACE

by Mélissa Pelletier

I experience a certain reluctance when it comes to talking about my work. I find that words cannot describe my ideas, confesses Dale Dunning. An interview with an artist who would rather let his art be the talking head.

Creating is my only talent, laughs the Canadian sculptor. Dale Dunning developed his passion back in 1965 when he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, followed by a Master’s degree at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. I fell in love with sculpture. When I finished school, I decided to follow my muse, he recounts.

The artist soon became fascinated with heads, creating hundreds of them exclusively in metal. These objects are small, large, colorful, dark, delicate or rough but they are always unique and always evocative.

Where do I get my inspiration? It’s actually quite mysterious. I often compare my art to music. Everyone responds to it in a personal way. In other words I have no particular message.

This approach is no doubt what makes Dunning’s work so universal. The heads I sculpte have no gender, race or specific identity. They can be seen as a mirror, reflecting feelings and memories unique to the observer’s personal experience.

Excerpt from Dale Dunning Face to Face in Mixte Magazine, no. 38, p. 181