DREAMKEEPERS, a Poetry Workshop

BCAG celebrates Black History Month with DREAMKEEPERS, on February 23 at 5:00. Join us for a free poetry workshop by Celeste Doaks and exhibit artists Ram Brisueno and Jeanine McClain.

Black History month is a time for America to celebrate our ancestors and their work, and one way to do that is by experiencing and writing about African American art. 

Join poet Celeste Doaks, at 5:00 p.m., for a free writing workshop where you can put your perspective into a poem. Come celebrate black visual art and share your words! Afterwards, BCAG will be showcasing the multi-media work of Ram Brisueno and  portraits by Jeanine McClain.

**The workshop is recommended for upper-level high school students, undergraduates and adults.**

About the Artists: 

Ram Brisueno is a Baltimore based, self-taught artist with a degree in English from UMBC. Ram considers himself a collagist focusing on form, color, and stories within his paintings using mixed media in an intuitive collage style referencing textures, color, meaning and intent which brings layers, upon layers within revealing unique and hidden narratives. An almost surreal perspective between material and transformations that play in stories and dreams. Ram has lived in New York, Germany, Washington, DC and Baltimore and has shown his work in museums, galleries, venues, and private collections.

Poet and professor celeste doaks is the author of Cornrows and Cornfieldsand American Herstory, an award-winning book of poems about the art Michelle Obama chose for the White House. She’s also the editor of the Not Without Our Laughter anthology and has been teaching creative writing for over a decade. Recently, her ekphrastic poems have been featured at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Museum. A 2022 Yaddo fellow, doaks lives in Baltimore with her husband and too many house plants.

Jeanine McClain is a senior artist whose passion is portraits. "I usually photograph my subjects and paint them in oil on canvas. I aspire to express the heart and soul of the individuals I paint, as well as their physical likeness. I am currently working on a "People of Catonsville" series of portraits. Every face tells a story and every person has their own unique beauty. When someone allows me to photograph and paint them I am honored and excited. So if a sixty something, kind of reticent, Black woman approaches you on Main Street and asks to photograph you, it’s probably me.... I am always looking for new faces."

About the Venue: The Clubhouse is a 100-seat, intimate performance space located in the heart of the Catonsville Arts District. Recently acquired, it is owned and operated by the Baltimore County Arts Guild and serves as a center of the arts in Baltimore County. Additional classrooms provide space for classes and workshops.

This program is made possible in part by the Citzens of Baltimore County, the Catonsville Arts District, Baltimore County Arts Guild, and the Maryland State Arts Council