By VCU News staff

VCUarts created the Department of Photography and Film in 1969, and under inaugural chairman George Nan, the Master of Fine Arts degree program was launched in 1978. Quarterman succeeded Nan as chairman in the 1990s and oversaw implementation of the undergraduate degree program in photography and film in 2000. 

Current chair Jon-Phillip Sheridan noted Quarterman played a significant role in shaping the department.

“His impact on generations of students who came through this program is hard to measure,” Sheridan said. “He led the development of the BFA program and literally built, by hand, many of the spaces we still use in the Pollak Building, including the Lighting Studio and the light panel wall in the chair’s office. He was usually building things – and often invited his students to help him!”

Quarterman earned a master’s degree in photography from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from the University of Georgia in Athens. As a merit professor at VCU, his instructional areas of specialty included studio lighting, large format photography, interiors, pinhole photography and fine art photography.

Quarterman’s own fine art photographs were published in popular and scholarly books and magazines, and he was featured in solo and group exhibitions. Among the venues were the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, and Nexus Inc. in Atlanta.

Behind the lens, Quarterman was generous in sharing his expertise with students, faculty and emerging talents. Allen Jones, director of photography and film for the Enterprise Marketing Communications department at VCU, said Quarterman was a supportive mentor to him during his years as an MFA student and adjunct faculty member.

“Dale was always generous with his time and thoughtful in his feedback,” Jones said. “His contributions enriched the department and those around him.”

Pam Fox, a photography professor at Hampden-Sydney College, recalled her graduate studies at VCU and how Quarterman “helped expand the idea of what a photographic artist could be.”

“Art-making and creativity moved beyond the boundaries of specific genres and disciplines with Dale,” Fox said. “He was a ceramic sculptor, a painter and a photographer. His work explored architecture, interiors and still life. He was as comfortable with a pinhole camera as a large format view camera or a piece of clay.”

Sheridan emphasized how Quarterman’s work, exploring photography’s connection to other forms of art, reflected “a theme that still resonates throughout our department.”

Quarterman served as a lasting influence on a host of professional photographers working today. In the Facebook group RVA Photographers, Al Sali, a specialist who operates as The Headshot Guy, cited Quarterman’s steadfast support and guidance, calling Quarterman “a brilliant photographer, educator and mentor – someone who shaped the lives of so many of us in the Virginia photography community.”

John Henley of John Henley Photography said he met Quarterman as a grad student at VCU. He later would help Quarterman build his house on a farm in Hanover County.

“We had a great time, and I got to know his kindness and humor as well as his amazing skill and craftsmanship,” Henley said. “That same craft has gone into the wonderful sculptures and photographs he has left us with. I feel so fortunate to have known him.”

Quarterman’s wife, Roshanak Ghazinouri Quarterman, immigrated to Virginia from Iran in the early 1980s. After studying English as a second language at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, she moved to Richmond to study photography at VCU, where she met her future husband. They raised sons Naveed and Omeed, and they operated the commercial business Quarterman Photography for decades – and embraced a vibrant social life from their home.

“When Dale and I got married, and I started entertaining, he loved it,” his wife said in a 2022 feature in Richmond magazine’s R*Home publication. “He’s never complained that we have too many parties. Even when we had kids, entertainment did not stop.”

The family is planning a celebration of life at a later date in Rochester.