dori decamillis |
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Bio Dori studied painting and art history at the University of Colorado, Boulder. After college she began a 13-year artistic collaboration with her husband, Joe DeCamillis. Dori and Joe lived on the road in a vintage motor home for three years; along the way they sold their work at outdoor festivals around the country, where their miniature paintings gained popularity and recognition. After three years of traveling, Dori became pregnant and the couple chose to settle in Birmingham, Alabama, a favorite place encountered in their travels. They exhibited their paintings in museums and galleries across the country and abroad, including a solo show at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Their work was featured in national newspapers and magazines, and they won over 40 major exhibition awards. The collaboration, along with the marriage, ended in 2002. Dori is now co-owner of Red Dot Gallery in Birmingham, a teaching space and gallery exhibiting her work, the ceramics of her partner Scott Bennett, and the finely-crafted work of nationally recognized artists they both have met in years of traveling. Working in adjoining studios with Scott has influenced her work, and her paintings have evolved into mixed media pieces that combine oil painting on different surfaces with handmade ceramic tiles. She also collaborates on Red Dot Pots, ceramic vessels and bowls made by Scott and decorated by Dori. She exhibits at Red Dot Gallery and other galleries around the U.S. In 2006 she received the Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artists Fellowship. |
scott bennett |
Statement My work brings together various layers of ornamental imagery, which develop and change as each piece progresses. Inspiration and influences range from botanical illustration, Mexican tile mirrors, and ceramic surfaces throughout history to Origami paper, crazy quilts, and Tibetan mandalas. I have a fascination with patterns of all kind -- especially in nature -- and I seek to translate the way they’ve influenced me in my own visual language. The iconic presentation of my work recalls the composition of religious and spiritual imagery throughout the world down through the ages. I am fascinated with the resemblances in design and format used by society that never came in contact with each other. Similar features of pattern, motif, and arrangement suggest a common and universal visual language all expressions of the divine. I respond to the radiating structure of the circular mandala, but impose my Western tendencies in the frame-like square configuration. My central subject is most often a flower. a universal symbol representing our highest aspirations. I usually choose to incorporate the imagery of as many cultures as I can in one piece, an observance of human connectedness. Although the contrasts and proliferation of imagery can be busy and overwhelming my challenge is to bring continuity to the chaos. The process itself-making tiles, researching and painting multi-cultural expressions is for me a celebration of the human desire to decorate, embellish, and generally make things beautiful.
Alabama Works I moved to Alabama 12 years ago, amazed by the historical and natural wonders that are largely overlooked by Alabamians. I received the Alabama State Council on the Arts Individual Artists Fellowship for 2006-07 which inspired a series of paintings in my usual format based on some of my favorite Alabama Places, organizations, or cultural attractions. |
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Education Born 1963, Steamboat Springs, CO. 1987 BFA, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, Double Major - Painting, and Art History Solo Exhibitions 2007 The Grammer of Ornament, Sherrie Gallery, Columbus, OH 2005 Many Splendored Things, Red Dot Gallery, Birmingham, AL 2003 Drive by L.A., Frumkin Duval Gallery, Santa Monica, CA My Babies, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, AL 2002 Road, Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas, TX Wiregrass Museum, Dothan, AL The Freeway, Frumkin Duval Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 2001 Normal, Montevallo University, Birmingham, AL 2000 Artspedition, Frumkin Duval Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Traveling performance/installation including exhibitions at: Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN Dayton Institute of Art, Dayton, OH Harwood Art Center, Alburquerque, NM Yourworld, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL Games, Vices & Addiction, Bare Hands Gallery, Birmingham, AL 1999 Harry and Martha, Frumkin Duval Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 1997 In the Privacy of, Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 1996 Other Voices, Other Rooms, Sherry Frumkin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA 1990 Mr. and Mrs., Spark Gallery, Denver, CO Selected Exhibitons 2006 Just A Head, Alabama Clay Conference, Montevallo University, AL 2005 Beyond Dolls, Dairy Barn Arts Center, Athens, OH 2003 Limn Gallery, San Fransicso, CA 2002 Art Aficionado, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL Biennial Invitational Art Auction, Montgomery Art Museum, Montgomery, AL 2001 All Things Small and Beautiful, Greater Reston Art Center, Reston, VA Familiar Reality-A Celebration of Alabama Artists, Montgomery, AL 2000 Patterned Flowers, George Billis Gallery, New Your, NY Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas, TX Art Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany Nall Musuem, Vence, France Chateau Museum, Tourettes Sur Loup, France Ken Elias Gallery, Best Palm Beach, FL Coplan Gallery, Boca Raton, FL 1999 Story Tellers, Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach 1998 Maralyn Wilson Gallery, Birmingham, AL 1995 Brigitte Schluger Gallery, Denver, Co Agnes Gallery, Birmingham, AL 1992 Hassel Haeseler Gallery, Denver, CO 1991 Dunbar Morss Gallery, Boulder, CO Bibliography 2004 Black and White (Birmingham) 2003 Los Angeles Times Black and White 2002 New American Paintings Denver Post Westword (Denver) 2001 The Artists Magazine Birmingham Post Herald Birmingham News 2000 Los Angeles Times Santa Monica Mirror Albuquerque Tribune Dayton Daily News Channel 13 News, Birmingham For the Record, Alabama Public Television Black and White Birmingham News 1999 Black and White Aura Literary Review 1998 New American Paintings 1997 Birmingham Magazine Artscene (Los Angeles) January and June issues 1996 Birmingham News 1995 Denver Post 1994 Orlando Sentinel Collections Leonard Nimoy John Elway Joyce Maynard (Author of To Die For) Charles Gaines (Author of Pumping Iron) Pactricia Richardson (Actor, Home Improvement) Kim Abeles (Artist) Nall (Artist) Gail Wellington (Director of the Simpsons) Todd Holland (Director, The Larry Sander's Show and Malcolm in the Middle) Xavier Roberts (Inventor of the Cabbage Patch Doll) Henry D. Varnell lll (Owner of Sysco Corporation) Jim Dicke ll (Owner of Crown Equipment Corporation) Gail Trechsel (Director, Birmingham Museum of Art) Laura Hull (Editor, Metropolitan Home) Susan Haynes (Editor, Coastal Living) Andrew Maass (Director, Mississippi Museum of Art) JSC Boggs (Artist) Riverchase Country Club, Birmingham, AL Rob Burton (Owner of Hoar Construction) Awards 2006 Alabama Council on the Arts Individual Artists Fellowship 1994-2003 Over 40 major awards at the top outdoor art festivals in the US |
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painting & drawing classes with dori decamillis
for more information, call (205) 870-7608 or email dori@reddotgallery.com.
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Red Dot Gallery • 1001 Stuart Street • Birmingham, Alabama 35209 • Telephone (205) 870-7608
Gallery Owners: Dori DeCamillis and Scott Bennett. All images copyright Red Dot Gallery © 2005. |