Marilyn Dale
By Jen Banowetz
December 2025 View more Spotlight
This Naperville artist was inspired by family history
It started with a box of World War II letters and Rubbermaid tubs of old photo albums. That’s the source material for Naperville artist Marilyn Dale’s exhibition Between the Lines, running through Dec. 5 at the Schoenherr Art Gallery (171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville). While he was deployed in the Pacific more than 80 years ago, her father wrote 500 letters to her mother.
Over the past few decades, Dale always knew she wanted to do some sort of art project with these little pieces of history, but she didn’t know exactly what until recently. “Last January I spied the letters atop a bookcase in my basement—where I often noted them out of the corner of my eye—I just felt ready,” she says. “I started by reading and scanning each letter. Then I started painting a few of the smaller, more abstract ones, which are still some of my favorites, and it just took off from there.”
She also used inherited photo albums. “Those have been in my garage, too, for 25 years—also waiting for the right inspiration,” Dale says. “I knew there were some World War II–era photos in there, so I was off and running.”
Was she ever. This year Dale created 35 mixed-media art pieces, did historical research—especially about the Pacific—wrote explanations, and designed an exhibition catalog and a 2026 wall calendar. She’s donating 100 percent of the profits from those (marilyndale.com/veterans) to Naperville’s Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873.
Q: What was your favorite part of this project?
A: Every time I looked at the photos or studied a few lines in a letter, I’d get inspired with a new idea. Also, as I worked on these, my process evolved into a very layered, mysterious look—kind of vintage, kind of dreamlike—that kept me intrigued. Snippets of letters and simple charcoal drawings inspired either by my own photos or those provided by the National WWII Museum in New Orleans are embedded in the pieces. Some are obvious, some peek through layers of paint, others are completely buried.
Q: What was most challenging?
A: The beginning. Digging out the nuggets from otherwise mundane letters that seemed to just be about the weather in the jungle or back at home—or movies they liked—but once I was on the trail, it became easier.
Q: What do you hope people take away from this exhibition?
A: I’m blown away by how easily people are connecting with the paintings and the story. At a preview evening, I had the opportunity to speak with at least 20 people—and the same on opening day. Nearly everyone has their own story about a father or grandfather who served in some conflict, or an uncle who didn’t make it home. Some people shared that they had letters from the past as well. So, I hope people continue to appreciate the memories this conjures up for them, to share their stories, and to remember our veterans—and also to share stories of their own lives with their children now.
Photo: Marilyn Dale
