Dale Plew

A TRIBUTE TO DALE PLEW

Who you would always find running the Station Gallery at Yarragon on a Friday and running his Drawing group at Trafalgar on a Thursday

Thoughtful, pensive, reflective, meditative, brooding and contemplative, all aspects I wanted to capture in the subject of a charcoal portrait, but in reality he was just rolling a durrie . This is the man I knew as Dale.

Dale Plew died Sunday night, 22 September 2024, around 9pm. A shock to all, and my thoughts go out to Lyn and family, as do the thoughts of the entire arts alliance community. He will be greatly missed.

Being the subject of a portrait, in a frame, on a wall, in a gallery, did not appeal to Dale in the slightest. It was a massive task to talk him round. Eventually it was settled, with impossible conditions made; – no sitting, no posing! After a lot of thought, the plan was to have Dale roll his smoke in exactly the right position, in exactly right lighting, not hard. That’s the story behind the portrait.

My friendship with Dale led him to encouraging me to take a seat at the committee table, one of the better things I’ve done. However, the following year, I was unable to talk him into doing the same. He also encouraged me to convene my own drawing group. This continues to help improve my art, as well as help to improve the drawing of others, but it also helped me value the work of volunteers, even more so.

I will miss Dale’s artwork, funny, dark, strange, familiar, black and white, anything but conventional or compliant. I loved his technique, his last works were done in biro, no graphite, no outline, no safety net, just biro. It would either be in small stokes or dots, expertly applied, resulting in incredible texture and visual display.

I will miss his humour, funny, dark, strange, familiar, black and white, anything but conventional or compliant…

Most of all I will miss his friendship, fearless conversations of art, hearing his life experiences, and his invaluable guidance with both art and life.

Rest easy now, man, Rest In Peace.