Dori DeCamillis

Now Available: A colorful catalogue celebrating "Exhibit A, Paintings of Alabama Places." Funded in part by the Alabama Council on the Arts, the book highlights the stories and inspiration behind the 12 panel series, and features full-page reproductions of the panels. Search for other posts about Exhibit A on this blog.  Link to Exhibit A Book

Dori DeCamillis Labor of Love by Brett Levine  Reprinted from BMetro magazine, September 2011 Creatively, Dori DeCamillis can only be described as multifaceted.  As an author, she has published two books.  The most recent, “My Steamboat”, recounts her childhood in Colorado, while her earlier “The Freeway” is the story of living, creating and working on the road as a painter making and selling works at outdoor art fairs. DeCamillis’ peripatetic past is behind her now.  She has settled in Birmingham, working and teaching at Red Dot Gallery which she owns with her husband Scott Bennett.  “For so many years I had been a slave to my work,” she remarks, “that when I decided I wouldn’t do any more outdoor festivals it gave me the freedom to explore larger projects over longer periods of time.” “I started considering the intersections between painting and ceramics several years ago,” she notes.  “At first I simply wanted to blur the distinctions between the wo...

No, I didn't rob a convenience store. I'll be on Birmingham's Fox 6 News at 6 tonight. Fred Hunter has done a feature about my art, focusing on my exhibit at the Mobile Museum of Art.   The piece will air tonight, a couple more times this weekend, and then will be available on the Fox 6 website after that.

I am spending a week in Mobile, AL giving workshops and lectures to kids, teachers, and the general public on my current exhibition, Prominence of Place at the Mobile Museum of Art . Here are some photos from an outreach program I did with kids at the public library. Using one of my paintings as inspiration, the kids traced or drew leaves, colored them, and cut and pasted them on colored paper. You know they're having fun when you don't hear a peep out of them.

I took these photos for my lecture at Mobile Museum of Art, Sunday, July 10, 1:30 pm. One of my paintings of Alabama favorite places is inspired by Jones Valley Urban Farm. My daughter, Annabelle, is peeling onions in the greenhouse: below. JVUF, located in downtown Birmingham, has small garden plots for locals, sells produce at local Farmer's Markets, and educates about sustainable, organic farming.

The Prominence of Place, my exhibit at the Mobile Museum of Art, opened last night, and will run through August 28, 2011. Lectures, gallery tours, and other events are scheduled for July. After five years of making this body of work, it's good to see them all together with good lighting. If interested, there are several posts on this blog describing these works as a group and individually.

Five Years in the Making Prominence of Place an exhibit of the work of Dori DeCamillis at the Mobile Museum of Art April 21, 2011 through August 28, 2011 Member Opening Thursday April 21, 2011 The Grand Lakefront Lobby 7:00 to 9:00 pm Events, Gallery Tours and Artist Talk scheduled in July Link to Mobile Museum of Art For more info see reddotgallery.com or call (205) 870-7608

Shots of Holiday Show 2010, December 6. Show is open until Dec. 18. Kids in Thursday afternoon class preparing the decorations Adam, Sara, and friends Liz and Ryan Scott before Scott after Beverley with Shannon's jewelry Mary Kay with her work Dori's Fish Boxes

When I first moved to the South, I was astounded by the abundance of Christian churches. I learned that Alabama has a church for every 360 people, more than double the national average. Anyone living in Alabama is well aware of the prominence of religion in everyday life, and representing it in my series seemed a must. I explored many churches in Birmingham in my first years in the state, and found them all lovely. I labored over the choice of which church to feature in my piece, wondering whether to make my decision based on political, religious, or historical reasons. Ultimately, I chose to be as non-confrontational as I could. I chose Saint Paul’s because it is my church. Founded in 1871, the same year as Birmingham, Saint Paul’s was the city’s first Roman Catholic Church. Its face has changed over the past century and a quarter, but renovations in the past 20 years have rendered it one of the most beautiful and revered buildings in the city. Saint Paul’s interior splendor is know...

These tiles gave me more trouble than any others in my Exhibit A series. I had to re-fire them three times, and then my trusty husband, Scott, sand-blasted them for hours. Ultimately, they came out with an authentic brick look I was happy with. Booker T. would shake my hand if he were here. I like the confusion of which part is 2D and which is 3D. More here about the painting "Working for Peanuts"

I learned about Tuskegee Institute in elementary school, but did not grasp the inspiring story behind the place until my first visit there: Two men spent their lives dedicated to the betterment of their people and their region. The most striking thing about Tuskegee Institute, at first glance, is the buildings that make up the campus. I was overwhelmed by all the gorgeous, rich, red brick and white trim buildings in different architectural styles. I learned that the students and faculty made the brick from Alabama clay and built many of the buildings themselves. Booker T. Washington, a former slave, came to Tuskegee in 1881 as its first principal. He was only 25 and, in the face of the unbelievable dangers of the racist South, spent the rest of his life dedicated to the school. He believed self-sufficiency should be learned along with a scholarly education, and students had to learn practical skills that they could take back to their communities, such as farming, carpentry, brickl...

My daughter, Annabelle, is volunteering at a local non-profit farm this summer. She picks vegetables all day long (a couple days a week) to help Jones Valley Urban Farm (JVUF) get ready for the following days' farmer's markets. My two preceding blog posts tell all about JVUF and their fine work. I thought that when I picked up Annabelle each day I would find her spent and bedraggled from the 98 degree/98 humidity we've had in Alabama for the last few weeks, but, on the contrary, she ends her days looking like a little Buddha--serene, gentle and happy. For years I've filled her head with the benefits of getting outdoors, helping in the community, supporting local food growers in any way possible. I extolled these virtues with a "do your duty" attitude, and didn't dare hope that when she actually did these things she would find it uplifting, fun, and desirable. I am a happy, proud, surprised, and really excited mom. Here is an article from the Birmingham New...

This painting is a tribute to all Alabama small, sustainable farms. I buy fresh food from local farmers whenever possible, and believe this practice to be important for the future of me and my family, our community, and our planet. Sustainability refers to farms that are healthy for the environment, can support themselves financially, and are socially conscientious. I chose Jones Valley as the representative farm for this painting because it thrives in busy downtown Birmingham, setting a good example of healthy farm practices to many who normally don’t get out in the country or aren’t exposed to the benefits of fresh, organic food. Jones Valley is a non-profit organization that provides outreach programs for students and the local neighborhoods, teaching people first-hand where their food comes from, how to grow it, how it is prepared, and how it tastes. Small garden plots are offered to nearby residents, and money is raised through donations and by selling produce and flowers at ...

41” x 48” In 2006 I was commissioned to paint a historically accurate painting of a Creek Indian village. In researching the subject I found that much of Creek cultural artifacts have been lost, due to the shameful Trail of Tears. With a lot of help from Miriam Fowler (who put together the life-size Creek village at the Birmingham Museum of Art) I gathered the information I needed and found images of Creek patterns in rather obscure places. I delivered the painting nine months after the piece was commissioned, and felt like I lived in the little village I’d painted. Because of my familiarity with the Creek culture, it was a natural choice of subject for one of my depictions of Alabama places. I knew immediately that my portrayal would include the Creeks’ wonderful patterns, which I only got to use on a small scale in the village painting. I chose Horseshoe Bend as the place to represent the Creek culture because it is the most accessible site designated to observance of Creek cu...