Dale L Popovich IWS is an award-winning watercolorist and teacher who is passionate about capturing the raw beauty of the American landscape with the fluid stroke of a brush. Talent and training aside, it’s Dale’s vision that best informs his work. By age 20, he lost 80% of his eyesight. Dale learned to rely on his mind’s eye to sustain him. After a nine-hour major brain surgery removing a cyst on his optic nerve, he had to learn how to walk and write again. With vision finally restored, he discovered he could see more clearly than before, efficiently filtering out the visual “noise” around him to focus on a subject’s essentials. His paintings began to reflect a certain purity of perception, and this “way of seeing” became the hallmark of his paintings.

Spending his childhood summers in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, Dale learned to love its colors, textures, denizens, and moods – developed his holistic approach to watercolor. Today, his paintings celebrate these American landscapes and man’s humble efforts to tame them.

Trained at The American Academy of Art in Chicago by past Director and President, Irving Shapiro AWS, Dale was deeply inspired by this great American twentieth-century watercolorist. Dale later taught for 22 years at the American Academy of Art.

Currently, Dale teaches at the prestigious Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago. The Palette & Chisel is an association of representational artists, founded in Chicago in 1895. It is the second oldest artist organization in the United States. He has also taught at Mainstreet Art Center in Lake Zurich, IL, and the Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL. Dale has workshops, demos, Zoom studio classes and teaches weekly classes in his studio. Also, Dale and his wife, Marilee launch an online art school, ToweringWindsAcademyOfFineArts.teachable.com. He wanted to share his knowledge with a broader audience. One of his passions is to Teach People to Truly See TM. Professionally teaching since 1978, Dale has trained over 3300 students – mentoring many who are now successful, accomplished artists.

He is a member of:
• Illinois Watercolor Society (signature member)
• The Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Arts
• Indiana Heritage Arts
• Watercolor Society of Indiana
• Plein Air Painters Chicago

Dale, his wife, Marilee, and their Pembroke Corgi, Miss Poppy, own a log cabin in the Great Northwoods of Wisconsin. Devoted to both painting and teaching, Dale’s work hangs in collections around the country.