About

Our Values, Mission & Vision

Creating art-making opportunities for children ages five to ten within the Dorchester community

Since Dot Art’s foundation in 1998, thousands of families have benefitted from our community-centered programs and partnerships. Dot Art currently has two art studios offering classes in painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed-media and collage.

In the past, we have provided exemplary programing to adults, youth and children for which we currently serve children as that is where the greatest need is right now, coupled with limited operational capacity as we are in the process of looking for a new and expanded community art studio.

Throughout the year, Dot Art partners with several local schools, non-profits and the business community to offer art education and opportunities for children to explore their creativity. In addition to weeklong, full-day intensives over school vacations, Dot Art also offers community engagement opportunities.

Our Spaces

We are currently in communication with our public, civic and private sector stakeholders for the establishment of a new and expanded Dot Art Space that would enable us to better meet the changing and growing needs of diverse communities within and across Dorchester - Boston’s largest neighborhood and one with the highest prevalence of social and income inequalities. If you would like to support this exciting cross-sector partnership, please contact Deniz Ozturk, Dot Art Executive Director.

Dot Art Main Office & Community Art Studio
c/o Walter Baker Artists Lofts building
1231 Adams Street, Floor 1 (left entrance)
Dorchester MA 02124

Community Art Studio
The Little House
269 East Cottage Street
Dorchester MA 02125

DOT ART PROVIDES A FUN, SAFE, AND WELCOMING COMMUNITY FOR OUR CHILDREN TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES CREATIVELY.

Children learn to use line, color, shape, design, texture and form. Our experienced teachers and volunteers provide children an introduction to (and even mastery) of a visual vocabulary to express what is often beyond words.

Here, children can learn to use their imagination to explore new possibilities, be courageous on the canvas, and to take risks with their creative impulses. Perhaps most importantly, they learn 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 made by its children, there's a sense of pride and ownership. We teach children to be expressive citizens and what they have to say matters.

All residents of Boston should have equal access to the visual arts and creative learning opportunities. As Boston's largest and most populous neighborhood, Dorchester encompasses a rich diversity of over 100,000 residents, 17% of whom were school-aged children in 2015, in comparison to only 11% of children in Boston as a whole.

According to the 2010 Census, Dorchester is 37.3% Black, 28% White, 13.8% Hispanic, 11.6% Asian and 10.2% composed of Native Americans, Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, and other ethnic identities.

Dorchester residents continue to face some of the highest rates of poverty and social inequities in the city. The median household income in Dorchester in 2015 was $47,200, lower than the Boston median of $55,777.

We are passionate about closing the opportunity gap and increasing the representation of art made in Dorchester.

For more information on the demographic economy and related trends for our Dorchester, MA community, please read this information note produced by the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), Research Division (June 2017).

DOT ART CURATES & IMPLEMENTS INNOVATIVE POP-UPS.

Dot Art collaborates with residents, neighborhood associations, local universities and schools, non-profit organizations and local businesses to organize special, limited-time themed site visits, classes, lectures and community celebrations.

Leadership Staff, Instructors & Teaching Artists

DENIZ OZTURK - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

deniz@dotart.org

Deniz is a non-profit leader and development professional skilled in non-profit management, community engagement and fundraising, working in the not for profit space since 2008. She has raised annual fund gifts for The Price Center that empowers individuals with special abilities and prior to that was the interim director of development and development officer at the ICMC that protects and resettles migrants & refugees. She is also a global poverty expert with subject matter expertise in social inclusion. In her previous award-winning career in international development, she worked for the United Nations system at the UNDP and the UN Global Compact on sustainability, corporate engagement, responsible investment, and partnerships. She has human rights-based approach to the advancement of the arts and culture through advocacy, inclusion, education, and skills development. She has a B.S. in Economics, a M.A. in International Affairs & Public Policy. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Fort Point Arts Community (FPAC). Deniz is an emerging professional photographer and in her free time, she volunteers at the QArts Gallery.

KRISTEN NICHOLS - INTERIM DIRECTOR

kristen@dotart.org

Kristen is an educator who has lived in Dorchester for over 20 years. She teaches middle school Math and Science in the Fields Corner neighborhood. Before shifting careers to teaching, Kristen worked as a visual, web, and user experience designer for over 20 years. She ran her own design business working with local clients in a variety of industries. Kristen received her BA in Art History from the University of Vermont, and her EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where much of her research focused on the value of the Arts and creative thinking in childhood development. She is also a proud Dot Art parent.

LEAD, PROGRAMS & ART EDUCATOR - search in progress, final interviews to be completed early to mid May 2024.

SUSAN O’SHEA - BOOKKEEPER

susan@dotart.org

Originally from Dorchester, Susan is a mother of three and an advocate for the neighborhood. She is the steady hand behind Dot Art who helps keep a crew of artists on track and in the black.

SUMMER 2024 PROGRAMMING

Co-teacher - forthcoming

ERYN HERSHENSON - assistant teacher

NATACKI ROBERTS-VALENTIN - assistant teacher

All Dot Arters are required to have an individual CORI.

Board of Directors

RAY CZWAKEIL, ESQ. - Board President

ANYA HERSHENSON - Vice President

EVAN HERSHENSON - Treasurer

ERYN HERSHENSON - Secretary

JANELLE NANOS - Director of the Board

KRISTEN NICHOLS - Director of the Board

DENIZ OZTURK - Director of the Board and Executive Director

Advisory Board

Update in progress.