The Dancing Cat Art School

What is The Dancing Cat Art Achool?

The Dancing Cat Art School is an online art school created by Rhode Island School of Design graduates and husband and wife team Jamie and Tom.

Who can enroll for courses?

How many students are in each class?

What do I need to enroll?

Why should I take this course?

How are courses structured?

What if I can't finish an assigment or course?

How are courses developed?

How much time will each assignment take?

What is an artistic voice?

*The Dancing Cat Art School is an online art school created by Rhode Island School of Design graduates and husband and wife team Jamie and Tom. After living between Martha's Vineyard and NYC for several years we found ourselves artistically isolated and in need of a community in which we could share and express our art. Tom read about Etsy in an article in the NY Times and we decided to open an online shop to sell our fine art and prints. The Dancing Cat was born in December 2009, our first sale in time for Christmas.

It was from there our online art community grew and in 2010 we decided to expand our love of art and art making by creating online art courses, with weekly assignments aimed at creative thinking and examining new practice. This led to a collaboration with blogger and illustrator Amy Ng of Pikaland, creating what later became known as Pikaland Bootcamp, with courses ranging from overcoming ones fears about making work, to how to market your art online and visual journaling.

Our goal has always been to provide a core understanding and basis for what makes a work of art strong and visually engaging. From this foundation the goal is self discovery and uncovering ones artistic voice, in otherwords what makes you and your art unique.

Now more than ever with so much focus on the finished product ie an object and selling one's work, the core understanding and joy of making art is lost. Our courses are aimed at putting the joy back in making. To not only help you uncover what it is you want to say with your art but to enjoy the process. Inspiration is all around you sometimes all it takes is a relaxtion of pace and an opening of one's eyes.

We're always developing new and engaging courses, our most recent have included Painting the Winter Landscape (in Oils), Exploring the 5 Senses, and a 3 day art trip to NYC this past Spring.

As professional artists with world study ranging from Australia to The Hermitage in St. Petersburg Russia, and Rome we feel we have something genuinely unique and of value to offer to our students.

Mixed Media, Collage, and Time

Course dates: June 13th- July 10th, 2011

Often the most exciting way to start afresh is to work in a new medium. It's easy to get jaded or disillusuioned about one's own work by consistently working the same way.This course is aimed at breaking habits or ways of seeing your art by introducing the element of collage! Students will be asked to explore new possibilities in making by using found materials ie paper cutouts, sewing patterns, page form books or musical sheets etc. and learn to become creative soucers realizing subject material is literally all around you! In addition we'll use the element of time as a subject matter and theme for each weeks assignment. With topics ranging from time of day, time of year, time period, and considering what makes a work of art timeless, wth numerous examples from past and current artists to guide us along and inspire new ideas! You can be a collage makin pro or a complete beginner, this course is really for anyone looking to freshen up their artistic approach, get new ideas and really just stop thinking and get making!

Sound like this course is for you? Enroll right here!

Course fee USD$180

The Art of The Bicycle

Course dates: July 12th- August 7th

July always means one thing around here- Tour de France! THE most epic three week professional cycling race of the year! With brightly colored cyclists speeding through the French countryside and scaling Alpine passes (where once only mountain goats roamed!) achieveing feats of superhuman strength and mental stamina! July seems like the perfect time to pay hommage to the thing that started it all- the bicycle! This 4 week course will re-explore the fanaticism and intial joy the bike brought to it's riders by exploring our own modern love and use of the bike in art. From drawing to painting, pattern and print, weekly assignments will use the bicycle as subject, explroing both it's formal and functional beauty. We'll also look at how the bike has been used in art throughout histroy, most notably in recent culture. This course is for anyone who loves bikes, whether from an aesthetic, atheletic or emotional view point, grab your pens and paper, lets go for a ride!

Sound like this course is for you? Enroll right here!

Course Fee USD$180 (4 weeks)

Find out more about The Dancing Cat Art School

Bon Apetito- Cooking and Art

Course dates: August 9th- September 5th

Art and life are never seperate. More specifically art and food are never seperate. Since the beginnig artists have been portraying their favorite edibles- From the cave paintings of animals in Chauvet France to the Dutch silll lifes of rotting fruit, Roy Lichtenstein's buttered toast and Warhol's canned tomato soups. Whether we're intrinsically attracted to food for it's sensory output, (not only sight, but smell, taste, touch etc.) or use it as a cultural signifer (such as Warhol's canned soup, perhaps suggessting even with different labels we all come in the same packaging..) or Manet's racey Picnic scene (L'dejeuner sur l'herbe), Will Cotton's cotton candy women, Wayne Thiebaud's rows of cakes etc. Something about food inspires and ignites. A symbol with all kinds of cultural references, meanings and gravitas. In this 4 week intensive course we'll use food as our subject of choice not only referencing past and current artists to inspire new works of art but literally getting in the kitchen and cooking receipes inspired by the art we view and make!~ Don't worry you don't have to be an excellent chef to participate (and we won't be cooking every week), cooking can be as complex or as simple as you'd like- peanut butter and jelly to leg of lamb and red velvet cake! The idea is to get you thinking about art with new sensory input. Not only visually portraying what you eat but sensing it as well.

Sound like this course is for you? Enroll right here!

Course fee USD$180 (4 weeks)

Find out more about The Dancing Cat Art School

Now more than ever with so much focus on the finished product ie an object and selling one's work, the core understanding and joy of making art is lost. Our courses are aimed at putting the joy back in making. To not only help you uncover what it is you want to say with your art but to enjoy the process. Inspiration is all around you sometimes all it takes is a relaxtion of pace and an opening of one's eyes.

*The Dancing Cat Art School is an online art school created by Rhode Island School of Design graduates and husband and wife team Jamie and Tom. Find out more.

What our students had to say about our courses:

Jamie, it was such a fabulous adventure!!! Thank you again SO much, to both you & Tom. I learned an incredible amount and have come away from this course feeling rejuvenated and inspired. I would certainly participate in the course again, especially the NYC portion. It was such a privilege to be introduced to the city by you guys and be able to listen to your insights & thoughts. I relished every single conversation (I realize that might sound silly, but I learned so much!) and came away feeling like a new person. Thank you so very much for everything... I really can't express how beneficial this course was for me. I have loads of new ideas for finding inspiration around me now, too ;) And it was such a treat meeting you in person! :)

Love,
Tabitha

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.
-George Bernard Shaw
I'm willing us all to meet in NYC this Fall!

Dates are here!
Online Course dates: Sept 19- Oct 9, 2011
4 Day Meet up in NYC will be September 29- October 2, 2011

Introducing a new 3 week online art course and art trip to NYC!
This course is aimed at self discovery and developing your own personal style by using your surroundings as a source of inspiration! Weekly assignments will encourage exploration of your natural surroundings and how you can use these to kick start your creative inclinations! In addition we'll meet in NYC for a jam packed 4 day art scavenger hunt, using the city and it's cultural offerings as a source of inspiration and actual source for art making! Including a group dinner, walking tours of contemporary art galleries, 1 major museum/exhibition visit, and cultural event such as the ballet or musical performance at Lincoln Center! Our trip will be sandwiched into the middle of our course so some assignments will be focused on what we see and do in the city! (Including finding, drawing from and being inspired by 1 work of art from the Met..!) and the discussions and art making will continue online after the trip.

FAQ's
This course is open to fine artists of all levels and mediums, from painters, photographers, sculptures, makers!
**Please note travel expenses, lodging, and all other costs are not included in the course fee! You must provide your own funding for all events so plan ahead!**

We will be your tour guides however you are responsible for your own actions, travel, accommodations etc. and a wavier form must be signed when enrolling for this course!
We will be planning on staying at The Jane Hotel where we've stayed numerous times, small railroad car like rooms but at $99/night you can't beat the price or location, the West Village! Note you must book in advance, if you'd like to stay somewhere else you may (we can provide recommendations) although I'd prefer we were all in the same place, all events will be scheduled with an issued itinerary although planned events may change. Plan on arriving Sept 29th, group dinner will be that night, Friday and Saturday will be full art touring days (bring good walking shoes!), departure breakfast Sunday Morning.
If you'd like to bring a guest there is an additional fee- contact me for more info on this option.
We know the city inside and out and are the best guides you can have for an art focused tour! So excited to share our love of the city with you!

The Art of Walking

Course dates: Oct 17- Nov. 13, 2011

Course Description: Whether your walking your dog, walking outside to enjoy the outdoors, or walking barefoot on the beach, your legs and feet were meant for more than just hanging off your office chair! Walking and art are meditative and unseperably intertwined. Some of times great creatives were also ardent walkers, from JMW Turner to Henry David Thoreau, walking and the act of creation seem to have a link. Rhythmic movement and engagment with your surroundings puts one's head in the present, a quite serendiptious place to be. Yesterday's dead and tomorrow not yet born so put on your shoes and pick up your pencil, we're heading outside!

For this new Fall course we'll explore walking and the outdoors as a source of inspiration and starting point for the creation of new work. Using one's natural surroundings, both urban and rural, you'll be asked to head outdoors, go for walks both locally and afar to discover new ways of seeing your natural environment through your art.Weekly assignments will explore life drawing, landscape painting, collage, and the art of walking itself. With weekly assignments, peer feedback and support, instructor critiques, and numerous examples from artists and authors who have explored walking in their art to guide us as we go along.

*This is a 4 week course open to all artists at any level or medium. Course emphasis is on creative thinking and learning how to see.

Course Description: Animals have always been a key theme and subject matter in art, from cave paintings to Audobon's birds, animals have fascinated and captured the artist eye since the beginning. The connection we feel towards animals, whether as companions, or on a spiritual or humourous level is expressed through our art.

In this 6 week intesive course we'll explore how animals have been used in art throughout history, exploring past artists as well as current examples, including children's books, to better understand and realize how animals can be used to express our artistic voice. Each week we'll explore a new animal and new assignment that will challenge how we draw and see animals in art, from life drawing to mythical creatures discover your inner animal!

Materials: Computer, digital camera, art materials are up to you, small notebook reccommended for sketching

Requirements: Time, commitment (to both your assignments and fellow classmates) This course is open to artists of any level and medium.

Course Fee: $40/wk ($240 for 6 wks)

Course Dates: Nov 21- Dec 31 (6wks)

Course Description: Winter is the perfect time to exlpore new ways of making art! Last Winter we taught the technically intense course, Painting the Winter Landscape in Oils, this Winter we're tackling Abstract Art!

In this 6 wk course we'll explore how images, objects, and the natural world can inspire the creation of abstract art, learning how to express our emotions and ideas through shapes, colors, compositions and forms. With examples from both past and contemporary artists to guide us and exercises focused on learning how to see non-figuratively we'll develop and strengthen a new voice of self expression.

Materials: Computer, digital camera, art making materials will be specified for each weeks assignment and may include ink, gouache, acrylic paints, pen, pencils, paper etc.

Requirements: Time, commitment (to both your assignments and fellow classmates) This course is open to artists of any level and medium. Note you don't have to be an abstract artist to take this course! In fact it will help develop your figurative hand by working in a new direction. Consider this course a liberation of hand and thought and be prepared to challenge ideas of what art should be and what art can become.

Coures Fee: $40/wk ($240 for 6 weeks)

Course requirements:

Time and commitment to both your work and your fellow classsmates!
Small notebook for drawing outside, yes we will be working from life as well as using our camera to capture the outdoors!
Digital camera to capture images outdoors and to photograph works, also helps to have a small video recrding device on your camera as we try to capture our experience in numerous ways.
Your favorite walking shoes! Whether you choose to walk around your neighborhood, park or hiking trail you will need good shoes to do so :D

Suggessted Reading Material for our course:

Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit
Walking by Henry David Thoreau