Coming up is International Dot Day. September 15th -ish

Many of you are familiar with Peter Reynolds' book, The Dot. Think about the message in The Dot, why would a Dot have its own day?

International Dot Day takes place to Celebrate Creativity,

Courage & Collaboration!

Imagine the power and potential of millions of people around the world connecting, collaborating, creating and celebrating all that creativity inspires and invites. Today you will be using your talents, gifts and energy to move the world to a better place, you will MAKE YOUR MARK!

Before we get started, Let's look at some artists that used Dots to "make their mark".

Yayoi Kusama is one of the world’s most influential artists with endless energy for creation with colors, patterns, art installation and love for fashion.Since the age of ten, she has been obsessed with polka dots, at first covering her drawings, then later canvases, walls, household objects and even her assistants in them.Known for her iconic dots, pumpkins and infinity rooms, her art has captivated millions all over the world

Yayoi Kusama "Love Is Calling"

Some artists use large dots and some go small....like George Seurat and other artists that use the technique we call Pointillism. When an artist paints with dots of paint rather than long brushstrokes of paint we call this Pointillism. Dots of color side by side visually mix as you view the art

Parade de cirque

Detail from Seurat's Parade de cirque, 1889, showing the contrasting dots of paint which define Pointillism

Vassily Kandinsky filled his art with shapes. Vassily has many paintings filled with circles. A circle is really just a big dot!

wassily kandinsky circles in a circle 1923

Vassily Kandinsky, 1926 - Several Circles

Let's look at a few more...

Almas Thomas painted colorful circles filled with bold colors inspired by the hues in her garden. I see a dot. Do you?

Alma Thomas, The Eclipse, 1970

Alma Thomas, Springtime in Washington, 1971

Lunar Rendezvous—Circle of Flowers Alma Thomas 1969

Roy Lichtenstein created works in the style of comic books. His images are filled with dots of color like the ink of printed comics

Roy Lichtenstein, Crying Girl

Roy Lichtenstein was famous for his bright and bold paintings of comic strip cartoons as well as his paintings of everyday objects. He was one of a group of artists making art in the 1960s who were called pop artists because they made art about 'popular' things such as TV, celebrities, fast food, pop music and cartoons.

Explosion 1965–6

Roy wanted his paintings to look like they were printed rather than hand-painted and he used a newspaper process invented by Benjamin Day, an American illustrator, of printing shades of color with tiny dots, Ben-Day dots.

Howardena Pindell (April 14, 1943) is an abstract artist from Philadelphia, PA. After studying painting in college, she worked at the Museum of Modern Art, and currently teaches at the State University of New York.

Howardena Pindell, Untitled 6F, 2008-9, mixed media on paper collage

Howardena is best known for her abstract collages made of layered paper dots. To create her collages she uses a process known as destruction/reconstruction. What do you think this means?