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Summer Art Courses are here!
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 |
NYC Fall Art Trip 2011
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! :)
Tabitha, NYC Art Trip, Spring 2011
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NYC Art Trip : Sept. 29- Oct. 2, 2011
Course fee USD$360/ 3 week online art course and 4 day guided art tour of NYC
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!**
**View photos and find out more about our first NYC Art Trip which took place this past Spring!
Find out more about your guides and instructors Jamie and Tom!
And feel free to contact us if you need further info! hmstrjam@gmail.com
See you in NYC!!
Bethany Hissong, Exploring The 5 Senses, Fall/Winter 2010
(Pictured above) Works from Assignment 1 Sight- In motion, from the front, from afar, from above
The courses are a great way to explore, to be reminded of all the art techniques we have learned and forgotten and to break from the routine. There is a real sense of community by sharing our works during the session with everyone in the class. Jamie is great at keeping the courses fun and relaxed, while still covering quite a bit of content.
- Jen
If you want to have fun, need a creative jump-start or would like your illustration style to grow, what better way to learn than with The Dancing Cat?! Jamie was a great teacher and had excellent ideas on how to explore the same subject matter in different ways. I am so glad I took this class. It has sparked new ideas while allowing me to experiment and draw with more zing!
-Sara
Sara Jane Franklin, The Art of the Bicycle Summer 2011
(Pictured above) Works from Assignment 3-The Bicycle Up Close
Jen Appel, Exploring the 5 Senses Fall/Winter 2010
(Pictured Above) Works from Assignment 2 Taste- Savoury, Sweet, Sour, Bitter
Your class was very helpful in learning about contrasting colors to make a piece interesting - like the reds and greens in the one above. Also, I learned that the road in a painting can be used to draw the viewer in and keep their eyes moving about the piece. I also learned the effects of light can play a huge part in a painting. The morning sun in the piece above turned the tall grass into an array of oranges and reds. And the mist coming off the warm pond was a blend of blues and reds - hopefully adding interest for the viewer. This one was actually one of my favorites in the way it turned out. I think it's because I like the interesting contrast of light and dark colors. I learned that contrasts can make a simple painting very interesting and engaging.
-Jane
Jane Johnson, Painting the Winter Landscape in Oils Winter 2010
(Pictured above) Assignments 3 and 4- How to see light
This class was so much fun-- it really stretched my thinking and made me realize how many different ways I could connect with the viewer on a sensory level. My illustrations have definitely improved when I apply what I learned to them. It's a great class to help bounce you outside of the box and into more creative thinking!
-Beth, Exploring the 5 Senses, Fall/Winter 2010
I think the best part of the lessons was how we learned to really look at composition and color before starting in on the main painting, with exercises that taught us how to really see and evaluate how our choices would work. I took Introduction to Oil Painting classes when I was in college but this course offered much more information and a better grasp of how to compose a good painting. The steps could be applied to any other painting medium too for better compositional results.
-Beth, Exploring the Winter Landscape In Oils, Winter 2010
The course was very enjoyable, I suppose what I enjoyed the most was your amazing knowledge of excellent contemporary artists, who you used as examples. Even though I am a graphic designer, and have been lecturing for ten years now in graphic design, I had not heard of most of these artists, such as Cy Twombly and Hunt Slonem. I really enjoyed your creative approach to artmaking, encouraging us to see new stories and ideas in our artwork that we had probably not thought of was always really inspiring, and maintained our interest. the briefs you created showed new and creative ways of thinking about making art that was not only beautiful (you have an exceptionally heightened aesthetic sensibility), but was also laden with meaning! it is also a bonus that you are a cat lover, and i suppose this was the first drawing point to me for your classes, as the most famous artists and writers in history love cats (because they are so beautiful).
-Veronica
Veronica Grow, MIxed Media, Collage, and Time, Summer 2011
(Pictured above) Assignment 1- Time of Day
Veronica Grow, Exploring the 5 Senses, Fall/Winter 2010
(Pictured above): Assignment 1 Sight
Veronica Grow, Exploring the 5 Senses, Fall/Winter 2010
(Pictured above): Assignment 5 Taste, Rosewater
The course was a wonderful way to start painting, whether you have experience or not. Jamie gave instruction and constructive critique on technique and color in a very fun and supportive way. She took us through steps that helped us “see” the winter landscape, the tones, the textures, the composition. I highly recommend!
-Jennifer
Jennifer Orkin Lewis, Painting the Winter Landscape in Oils, Winter 2010
(Pictured above) Assignment 3, Time of day
I really enjoyed this course. You have been a wonderful teacher! I loved your encouragment and positive feedback but at the same time, you gave me inspirational ideas on how the take my projects further, how to experiment and think outside the box. I also enjoyed the very useful information provided on different artists. Thanks so much!
-Eleni
Eleni Kastrinoyanni, Mixed Media, Collage, and Time Spring 2012
(Pictured above): Assignment 1- Time of Day, Assignment 2- Time of Year