Pots on a Rail

Student pots drying outside during Scott's evening clay class.

Before and After Drawings

BEFORE. Drawing by new student with no instruction.

AFTER. Same student at the end of one of Dori's drawing classes. She caught on quick!

Framed

Scott is building Dori's frames for the upcoming DECADE 10th Anniversary exhibit at Red Dot. He loves his outdoor wood shop in the Alabama summer heat.

Dori Instagram Photos

I (Dori) have been an amateur photographer for many years, and I share my work online through Instagram. There are those who pose the question, "Is Instagram replacing art galleries as a place to exhibit?" I don't know the answer to that, but I will consider it an invite to show my photos (not fancy, I tell you!) on our Red Dot Blog from time to time as an extra exhibit space. These are taken in the parks and open spaces of Fort Collins, CO a few weeks ago. CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE SLIDE SHOW.

Throwing Pots in Scott's Clay Class

Red Dot to Celebrate 10 years in Birmingham

It's coming sooner than you think: Our student/teacher exhibition celebrating Red Dot's 10th anniversary. Please join us for an opening reception Saturday, September 6, 5 - 8 pm. We are grateful to have been a part of Birmingham’s art community for so long. Our students, collectors, and many supporters and friends have made it possible. Thank you!

Student Art Pages Always Being Updated

Continue to check back for changes on the individual student pages. They are always completing new work. This week we had at least 7 new paintings finished.

A diptych of "Maggie" by Beverley Phillips, a student at Red Dot for 8 years.

Art Education in the Post Skill Era

At Red Dot we seek to foster an environment of encouragement and enjoyment. Many students are interested in learning to paint realistically, and others are pursuing a more abstract experience. As instructors it is vital for us to nurture whatever style and subject matter is most natural and desirable for the student. We know this allows the student the best opportunity for developing skill and a singular voice. Yet as veteran students of various education settings, we have run into a major amount of teaching methods that categorically reject these notions.

Huffington Post writer F. Scott Hess agrees with me and many other artists about the perils of wanting to be a skilled craftsman painter in today's art academia. In his well-articulated article, "Is De-Skilling Killing Your Arts Education?" he exposes the sad state of art education. I normally don't get preachy about issues on this blog, but this one has affected me and my family for a long time.

The artist's work above is a fabulous painter and long-time friend. 

Trip to Fayette Art Museum

The small town of Fayette, AL has a noteworthy folk art collection with large holdings of the works of Jimmy Lee Sudduth and Lois Wilson, two well-known visionary local artists. Jimmy Lee mostly painted with mud and sand until later in life. Lois was educated and exposed to the world away from Alabama, but retains a singular, outsider-art style. We took a day trip with some friends to see the Fayette Art Museum and took lots of photos.

Dancing girls, I think, by Jimmy Lee Sudduth.

Lois Wilson, painting of a woman. She had hundreds of paintings of all sorts of people, all painted on found pieces of wood. 

Necktie quilt by folk artist. I will get the name soon!

Saints by Lois Wilson

Football players by Jimmy Lee Sudduth

Lois Wilson had strong opinions about race, religion, politics, the environment, and institutions of many kinds. Many of her pieces reflect the voice of an activist with bold poeticism.

Benjamin Perkins gord art, looking like a contemporary art installation with the starkly utilitarian surroundings.

Another Benjamin Perkins piece concerning God and country.

Lois Wilson decorative toilet seats. I want one!

Jimmy Lee Sudduth cotton pickers and cotton wagon.

The Wonders of Kid Class

George and Grace, both age 8, came up with amazing renditions of home interiors in watercolor and marker. Below are the magazine images they worked from and their finished pieces.

Graces's watercolor

The image Grace worked from

George's finished piece

The magazine ad George drew from. He omitted the receipt at bottom right.

New Student Work

Enjoy recently finished paintings and drawings by Red Dot students, and check out the Student Work pages to see their portfolios.

Jeanne Alexander's portrait of her grandson.

Mark Your Calendars

Homewood’s Red Dot Gallery Marks 10 Years

with a Student-Teacher Exhibition and Open House

Red Dot Gallery, the art and teaching studio in Birmingham, is celebrating its 10th year of business with an exhibit entitled “DECADE.” The show will commemorate the art gallery and teaching space’s big anniversary, and an opening reception will be held Sept. 6, 5-8 p.m. at the gallery.

The works of Red Dot owners Scott Bennett and Dori DeCamillis will be exhibited along with paintings, pottery and sculpture by their students. Paintings by Annabelle DeCamillis and mixed media collages by Karen Leslee will also be on display.

Red Dot Gallery opened on Sept. 11, 2004, at Pepper Place. Three years later, DeCamillis and Bennett moved to their present location in the Edgewood neighborhood of Homewood, and have found it to be a friendly and auspicious site for their classes, working studio and small gallery. The gallery has exhibited local and national artists of note, and now focuses on the work of owners Dori and Scott and their students. Their popular classes have taught hundreds of students, and it’s not unusual now for classes to have waiting lists.

Red Dot offers painting, drawing and pottery classes for adults, as well as art classes for children. Bennett and DeCamillis balance the academic, technical and conceptual concerns of art with the equally important aspects of fun, relaxation and social interaction. Their students range from beginners with no experience, to practicing artists with graduate degrees in art.

“One of the things I most appreciate about taking classes at Red Dot is the way both Dori and Scott make their teaching positive, enjoyable and lively,” says Mary Kay Culpepper, who has studied at the gallery for more than seven years. “They’re amazingly responsive to the varied needs and abilities of their students. And because the classes are so inclusive, we students end up learning from each other, too, and often become good friends in the process. It’s a terrific atmosphere for creativity.”

The past decade has brought the realization of many artistic objectives for Bennett and DeCamillis, and Red Dot has been a source of inspiration. “Our students stimulate and teach us as much as we do them,” DeCamillis says. “Having a workplace of encouragement and motivation enlivens us and our work.” DeCamillis had a solo exhibit of her work at the Mobile Museum of Art in 2011 and is preparing for another solo show at the Huntsville Museum of Art in 2015.

Her husband, Scott Bennett, directed the Alabama Clay Conference for the past three years, and has brought many distinguished international artists to Birmingham as presenters. “Red Dot has served as a galvanizing influence on us in our artistic endeavors,” he says. “Our studio and classes are a home base that brings us joy and moves us to both create and promote the arts.” Over the past 10 years, Bennett has shown his work at notable exhibits around the United States, including the prestigious National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts conferences.

For information about classes at Red Dot Gallery – and the art of Bennett and DeCamillis – call 870-7608 or visit www.reddotgallery.com.

Red Dot's Annabelle DeCamillis at Hama-Con

Annabelle hand made this fabulous costume for Hama-Con, an animation convention in Huntsville, Alabama. She is dressed as Elsa from Disney's Frozen, but don't tell Disney. 

Solo Exhibit for Dori, Huntsville Museum of Art

I am honored to have been invited to exhibit my work in a solo show at the Huntsville Museum of Art, February through June 2015. Watch for updates on the process of getting ready for a museum show.

Karen Leslee Exhibiting at Red Dot

Red Dot is now exhibiting the work of Colorado artist Karen Leslee. She incorporates collage and objects from nature in her works on paper to make provocative, humorous, and beautiful images. She also just happens to be Red Dot owner Dori's mom!

The images above are details of Karen's pieces. Check back for a full catalogue of her work.

Wood Store Adventures

I snuck in some photos while shopping at Woodcraft, our local wood store. I bought a new power tool for making frames for my paintings. (Upcoming museum exhibit to be announced soon!)

Redirecting you...

Please check out my personal blog for regular posts. 

The Story of Exhibit A

Exhibit A: Paintings of Alabama Places

I moved to Alabama in 1994, amazed by the historical and natural wonders that are largely overlooked by Alabamians. After exploring the United States full time for over 3 years, I chose Alabama as a favorite in my travels and endeavored to explore my new home state through sightseeing and painting. I received the Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artists Fellowship for 2006-07 which inspired a series of mixed-media panels based on some of my favorite Alabama places. The Mobile Museum of Art held an exhibit of the project from April to August of 2011.

I set out on field trips—some alone, some with family or my friend Anne Laplante—to discover, photograph, learn about, and get inspired by interesting places. Among other adventures, we sloshed around a muddy bog north of Mobile, hung out with Indians in Tuscumbia, huddled under thousands of cave crickets while wading in an underground river in a cave in the Paint Rock Valley, and got lost in the woods on a Sipsey Wilderness Hike. On each encounter I learned so much fascinating new information that the project would have been worth it for the education alone. Being from another part of the country rendered me just unfamiliar enough with Alabama’s landscape and history that I saw it as fresh and foreign—and thus very exciting.  In my paintings I attempted to highlight the things that struck me visually and intellectually. I got well-meant suggestions from others about what should be included, but ultimately I chose the things that made me say Wow. 

From the many photos I took on each trip, I patched together details in a random and scattered way. I found that using many different images in one piece better represented the way I saw the place than a straightforward realistic view would. In the studio I handmade ceramic tiles and inlaid them into a large wooden panel. The centers of the pieces are copper, and except for the tiles, the entire piece is painted with oils. My handy husband and ceramic artist, Scott Bennett, consulted on tile construction and completed all of the woodwork.

Through Exhibit A I got to connect with my community in an intentional way, and champion the parts of Alabama that most intrigued me. Each place I chose to depict had other champions of its own. A handful of dedicated (and usually overworked and underpaid) people watch over and tend the places I chose. I consulted with historians, biologists, rangers, and activists. They do the honorable job of maintaining, educating, raising money, and tenderly devoting themselves to their place. Their dedication inspired me to put my all into Exhibit A, and reminded me that we silly humans truly can do amazing things when we choose to. 

The photographs that follow represent the 12 panels that made up Exhibit A. They were completed between 2006 and 2011. The texts that accompany the images give a little info about the place, my experience making the piece, and the organization that maintains the place. My hope is that Alabama gets a little more appreciation, and that people from in and out of state get fired up about seeing the hidden, fascinating places that are everywhere around us.

Miss Dori's Junk Drawing Day

Today is Miss Dori's Junk Drawing Day at Red Dot. My kid class gets to sketch old stuff I find when I clean out drawers and closets. (They don't relate to the stuff on an emotional level, so they tend to pay attention more and draw better.) Kamilla, Bay, Mia, Rivers, and Katie drew the subjects below and came up with the drawings here.

First Landscapes

In my oil painting class I start students with a few exercises to get used to the medium. I then launch them into a few paintings of different subjects to give them broad experience at blending, color, composition, and other basic principles. I suggest a landscape as one of these first paintings, and I've included some examples of them here. You can see a wide variety of styles, skill levels, and gestures. Hopefully this encourages people to dive in no matter how "good" they think they are in the beginning.