Our Mission

To create art making opportunities for children ages 3 to 10 within the Dorchester community

Founded in 1998, Dot Art has two art studios where we offer classes in painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed-media and collage. We go where the kids are and we invite them to come to us too! We partner with several local schools and many non-profits in Dorchester to offer art education and opportunities for children to explore their creativity.

Dot Art provides a safe, fun, welcoming community for our children to experiment.

Dot Art teaches children to use line, color, shape, design, texture and form. Our experienced teachers and volunteers provide children an introduction to, and sometimes mastery of, a visual vocabulary to express what is often beyond words.

We teach children to use with imagination and explore new possibilities, be courageous on the canvas, and to take risks with their creative impulses.  And perhaps most importantly, we teach children to be delightfully surprised by the unexpected. “If something doesn't go your way, make it into something new, that drip can become something else. What begins as a horse can become a butterfly.”

Dot Art brings our neighborhood together.

When a community witnesses large-scale public art works made by its children, there's a sense of pride and ownership. We teach children to be expressive citizens and that what they have to say matters.

As Boston's largest and most populous neighborhood, Dorchester encompasses a rich diversity of approximately 92,000 residents. According to the 2010 Census Dorchester is 37.3% Black, 28% White, 13.8% Hispanic, 11.6 % Asian and 10.2% comprised of Native Americans, Hawaiian /Pacific Islander and Other. But although rich in resources, Dorchester residents still face some of the highest rates of poverty and social inequities in the city. Dot Art believes all residents of Boston should have access to visual arts learning opportunities and is striving to increase the numbers of children and adults that it serves.

Dot Art is grateful to Mass Cultural Council for operational support and EdVesters for school partnership support! We have received funding over the years from many Boston area foundations.

MCC.png