UD Professor's Sabbatical Photos on Display in Bisignano Art Gallery
By University Relations
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Dale Easley, PhD, professor of geology at the University of Dubuque, headed west from Dubuque on his Honda Africa Twin on August 13, 2022, on what would become a 5,177-mile, 6.5-week quest during his sabbatical to research climate change. Photographs from that adventure in which he traveled alone are on display in the newest exhibit at UD's Bisignano Art Gallery.
"Dale Easley in the Wild West: Sabbatical Photography" opened Friday, January 5, 2024. The exhibit is free and open to the public through Wednesday, January 31, 2024, inside Heritage Center, 2255 Bennett Street.
"In my sabbatical proposal that enabled the trip, I had stated that I wanted to revisit places from my youth and write about how climate change had affected them," Easley said. "However, I was approaching major transitions in my own life - the marriage of my daughter, advancing arthritis, retirement, and the age at which my father died. Perhaps for the last time, I wanted to seize the day."
Alan Garfield, director of the art gallery and professor emeritus at UD, described the exhibit as a bit like the Beat Generation poetry revisited.
"Now if you know Professor Easley, then you know he is an avid and accomplished writer - prose, poetry, and, naturally, science papers," Garfield said. "And as I look at the images of this show and read his text, my mind wanders back to Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady - their friendship, their thunderous letters, and their On the Road adventures. Zoom ahead 75 yeas and here you have a scientist/writer/photographer on his own personal odyssey, combining cross country and cross discipline."
A free pre-show reception for "Dale Easley in the Wild West: Sabbatical Photography" will be held from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, Monday, January 22, 2024, in the art gallery. The pre-show reception will take place in conjunction with Blood Done Sign My Name featuring Mike Wiley, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. in John and Alice Butler Hall, Heritage Center. For more information or to purchase tickets to the performance, please visit www.dbq.edu/HeritageCenter.
Gallery hours are noon to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The art gallery is open in conjunction with all major events in John and Alice Butler Hall, Heritage Center.
"Dale Easley in the Wild West: Sabbatical Photography" is also available virtually at http://gallery.dbq.edu.
