Time to Draw

Red Dot Gallery is closed due to the pandemic, but we now have new offerings to keep you busy during your time at home. Pottery classes are not being held due to the nature of the medium, but oil painting classes are proceeding as usual online. Last week was our first week together in virtual class, and we all enjoyed seeing each other and getting our weekly dose of creativity and fellowship.

Our big news is that Dori is now offering online, live beginner drop-in drawing classes for kids and adults. Click here for all the information. You’ll finally get your chance to take that art class you’ve always wanted to try. We hope to see you on the screen.

After you peruse the class page remember, you can only purchase the upcoming class. Don’t try to purchase ahead or you’ll receive the wrong Zoom code.

Up and Running Online

Like many small businesses, we have had to completely reinvent ourselves in the past week. The good news is, we have now have options that will provide an opportunity for more people to take classes. Our limited capacities at the gallery meant long waiting lists for students (not complaining…a good problem to have) but our new expansion into virtual classes solves that problem. The bad new is that making art with clay is not so easy to do at home, so our pottery classes will have to wait until we reopen.

Regular Painting Classes

Starting this week, we will resume regular painting classes at their usual times. Students are setting up makeshift or real studios in their homes and we will connect through Zoom meetings. I’ll still be able to critique their paintings and we’ll get to connect as a group through this isolating crisis. Many of my students have been coming every week for many years, some even over a decade. I know I’ll be in need of our togetherness just as much as my students will.

Drop In Drawing Classes

Next week (or thereabouts) we will begin drop-in drawing classes for adults and kids. These beginner lessons will focus on fundamental drawing skills and offer the whole family a chance to learn something new and enjoy a soothing break at at time when it’s much needed. I am a big believer that ANYONE can draw, and I love to see people realize they can.

Without a Net Cards

I’m also very excited to start sharing my Without a Net Card Deck in my online Creativity and Awareness Workshop. The cards are a tool for creativity, introspection, and play that can help us access inner resources we could really use at this time. Coming soon are live meetings to work and play together with them.

More Classes

Other offerings are in the works. Stay tuned for beginning painting classes and our usual photography and portrait workshops.

Red Dot Gallery is ever so grateful to the many people who’ve offered encouragement and support since the pandemic started. We hope to be able to open our doors one day soon, but until then, we’re working to connect and thrive within our community and the broader world in all the ways we can.

Closed Due To Health Scare

I’m sad to say that because of the outbreak we are closing the doors at Red Dot 🔴 Gallery until further notice. In the meantime we’ll soon be announcing some online class offerings so you can wait out your isolation with a little creativity and camaraderie. Stay tuned and cross your fingers for us small business owners.

Grand News

Starting later in March Dori’s paintings will be a part of the regular stable at the Grand Bohemian Gallery in Mountain Brook, AL. A solo exhibit of her work will open June 25, 2020. Save the date!

Red Dot and Forstall Art Present

Expand your creative voice in this one day workshop with instructor Dori DeCamillis. It will awaken your curiosity, stretch your imagination, and open doors to self-honesty. 

Details

Cost: $120, includes lunch 

When: Saturday, March 14, 10:00 - 3.00 

Where: Forstall Art Center

Who: Adults 19 and over

Supplies: All supplies are provided

In the spirit of Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” and Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic,” Without a Net Creativity and Awareness Workshop will offer participants creative exercises in various artistic media that explore personal mind states and perspectives in a judgment-free setting. 

 Exercises will include explorations in visual arts, written word, photography, and other mediums. We will also use the Without a Net Card Deck as prompts for creativity and self-study. No experience, talent, or skill necessary.

More Details: Museum Exhibit

Dori’s upcoming exhibit at the Mobile Museum of Art, Read My Mind, opens Thursday, February 6, 2020. The opening reception is from 6-8pm and is open only to MMA members. (Support the arts and get ourself a membership!)

The show runs through July 5 and is open to the general public starting February 7.

We hope you’ll be able to attend the exhibit.

Upcoming Exhibit for Dori

Opening February 6, 2020 and running into the summer, Read My Mind will include paintings from the last 8 years. The Mobile Museum of Art is a lovely venue, and Mobile community a great supporter of the arts. Curator Stan Hackney is in charge of the exhibition.

Without a Net Blog

Now available! The first edition of cards by Red Dot owner Dori, based on her painting series. Check out all the deets RIGHT HERE.

Look a Round

Red Dot owner Dori DeCamillis opens her exhibit “Look a Round” at Filter Coffee Parlor, Birmingham, Sunday October 13 from 12 to 2 pm. Please come see her new paintings!

Zoo Collaboration

Dori created this painting for promotional material for the Birmingham Zoo Gala. This year’s theme is South America, and the event is September 13. Here’s more info.

I chose some of my favorite South American Animals. The background pattern is inspired by Peruvian Textile designs.

2018 Red Dot Student Show

Please join us in celebrating the hard work and dedication of our painting and clay students, Friday, September 7, 5-7 pm.

Without a Net Creativity and Awareness Workshop

Click here for more information about the upcoming workshop held by Red dot owner Dori DeCamillis. Creativity, mindfulness, self-honesty, a break from the heat...all good stuff. 

Residency for Dori

Red Dot owner Dori DeCamillis was awarded a two week residency in November at Hambidge Creative Residency Program in North Georgia.

The only requirement of the residency is to make art and write in a private house and studio in the woods. Eight other artists, writers, and performing artists have their own place as well. 

The Show Called Life

Ann Vaphiades, longtime oil painting student and friend of Red Dot will be honored with her first solo exhibition at the gallery. Her vibrant work is painted from photos taken by her and her daughters. Her paintings depict LIFE's poetic moments on the family's many adventures at home and abroad.  

Please honor Ann and Red Dot by attending her LIFE opening reception Saturday, May 5, 2018, 5-8 pm. There will be wine and snacks, inspiring art and good people.The exhibit runs through end of June. Link to our regular hours. 

National Park Feature

An image of this painting by Red Dot owner Dori DeCamillis will soon be featured in the newly renovated Gateway Arch National Park Museum in St. Louis, MO. Her painting of a historically accurate Creek Indian village will be a part of an interactive exhibit. Dori is thrilled because of her love of National Parks, and particularly because the Arch is one of her favorite sculptures. She's visited it numerous times, and will do so again when the museum opens again to the public in July. 

Upcoming Workshops

Painting by Jeanne Alexander

Instructor Dori DeCamillis will be offering two workshops coming soon. On Feb. 24 she will teach a portraiture workshop for experienced Red Dot students. The workshop filled within a few days, but look for the next one coming soon. Info and schedule are here. 

Dori is offering a photography workshop for smartphones and simple cameras on March 10. This one-day event offers the fundamentals of photography and photo-editing starting with the most basic principles of design. It's perfect for those interested in taking excellent images for painting reference, or anyone who just wants to take better pictures. This workshop still has spaces available for now. More info.

Holiday Gifts at Red Dot

We've got art class gift certificates and fine art for holiday gifts. Come by or email us!

Marcia Amason Opening

Please help Red Dot Gallery celebrate the paintings of longtime oil painting student, Marcia Amason. Her deftly painted works of life beneath the sky capture thoughtful moods and invoke reverie, while her compositions offer viewers imaginative visual connections. Reception to meet the artist Friday September 15, 5-8 pm. Exhibit runs through October 28. To visit during exhibit run (after the opening) check our website for hours or make an appointment. 

Charla Cardin

Charla Cardin finished this lovely painting in class this week. 

Daniel White Coming Soon

Red Dot is happy to present the paintings of Daniel White. Daniel graduated with a BFA from University of Montebello, and with an MFA from RIT-School for American Crafts. In addition to working on both painting and ceramics, he worked professionally in art museums for 10 years. He is currently a full-time painter, and a part-time educator. An opening reception for the artist August 11, 5-8 pm will kick off the show, and it will run through September 9.