Dale McEntire

Official Juror for the 2025 UCAC Art Exhibition

"A movement of painters and sculptors identified as 'Nature Symbolist' has inspired me to create work that is about the essential quality of nature. For me this is a spiritual essence that is underneath the obvious form and can be sensed with time and awareness. My goal is to refine my own personal language of this inner form and create an object of beauty and skill. Surface line and color are important elements I am engaged with. The paintings have steadily become more abstract as I interpret nature and its energy with the goal of expressing place and experience. As a sculptor I work with stone, steel, cast glass and wood. My work is conceptual interpretations of readings and ideals."

The Union County Arts Council is honored this year to have Dale McEntire as the Juror for the 2025 Art Exhibition. A native of Western North Carolina, Dale has been involved in the visual arts since his training at Mercer University, and has continued to evolve as an artist through private studies in the U.S. and Europe, and training at Penland School of Craft. His interest in the spiritual essence of nature can be seen in his use of color and form. Dale produces both oil and pastel paintings and sculpture (stone, steel, glass, bronze) out of his studio in Saluda, North Carolina. He is represented by galleries in Western North Carolina and for the past several years has been selected to participate in public art events and outdoor sculpture shows. Dale is a member of Tryon Painters and Sculptors and Tri-State Sculptors.