J. R. Kortman Center for Design / Kortman Gallery

Seeing Rockford artist Diane Rose Dailing’s art is like discovering newly uncovered drawings and sculpture from some uncertain ancient time, yet it also is like discovering fresh contemporary works that capture the classic beauty and alluring characteristics of the human figure. Dailing’s expressive, figurative drawings and sculpture can be seen starting Friday, February 6th in an exhibition titled, “Captured” at the Kortman Gallery in Downtown Rockford.
    Dailing, who has been creating drawings all her life, became intrigued with Pre-Columbian clay heads when she received a clay “trophy head” as a gift.
    “Clay heads were created to represent the number of the enemy killed in battle,” explains Dailing. “They look alike, anonymous and impersonal, and not all of those conquered were killed. Some were enslaved. This ancient idea of capturing a person in a work of art intrigued me since this is what inspires me with my drawings and my sculpture.”
    Dailing’s exhibition features both drawings of the human figure and sculpted clay heads that are more abstract than realistic. The small clay faces she presents in her show are people whose essence she strove to capture.
    “Some are actual acquaintances, some are people observed from afar, some are imaginary,” says Dailing. “I envisioned them looking stunned and defeated as I stole their likeness. My pieces in the exhibit represent people in the abstract, like the Pre-Hispanic clay figure that inspired me, but they are also captured objects, hung on the wall as hunters do their trophies”
    “Diane’s art is at once classic and contemporary,” says Doc Slafkosky, gallerist for the Kortman Gallery. “She’s a very talented artist who brings a mature style and sophistication to the Kortman Gallery.”
    Dailing received BA, MA and MFA degrees in Studio Art from the University of Iowa, with Figure Drawing as her area of emphasis. She has taught art in private and public schools, the Davenport Art Museum, Rockford Art Museum, and drawing classes at Black Hawk College and Rock Valley College.
     The Dailing exhibition, “Captured” will be will be on display through March 31st.The First Friday, February 6th opening reception will be from 5:30 to 9pm. The Kortman Gallery is located upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 North Main Street. For further information call 815/968-0123 or visit www.jrkortman.com.

What: “Captured,” an exhibition of works by Diane Rose Dailing opening reception, First Friday, February 6th, 5:30 to 9:00pm.
When:  The exhibition runs through March 31st. Gallery & Store open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 6pm.
Where: Kortman Gallery, upstairs at J. R. Kortman Center for Design,
             107 North Main Street, Downtown Rockford
Admission: Free and open to the public