Walk a Mile in My Dreams Performance by Joyce J. Scott

Online ticket reservations are now sold out! Walk-up seating in the BMA Auditorium is limited and will be given on a first-come, first-served basis.

Join us for a momentous musical performance by artist Joyce J. Scott to mark the closing of her 50-year retrospective, Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams.

Scott will be accompanied by long-time collaborators Lorraine Whittlesey, jazz pianist Derrick Thompson, and bassist Mitchell Coates, with opening remarks by womanist, abolitionist, and cultural worker Sharayna Christmas.

 

*Tickets to Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams are not included and must be purchased separately. 

 

This program is sponsored in part by the Joshua Johnson Council, one of the nation’s oldest museum support groups devoted to African American and Black Diaspora art. An affiliate organization of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Schedule:

2 p.m. – BMA Auditorium doors open

2:30 p.m. – Program begins

3:30 p.m. – Program ends

Participating Artists

Joyce J. Scott

Joyce J. Scott (b. 1948, Baltimore, MD) earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a Master of Fine Arts from the Instituto Allende in Mexico. In 2018, she was awarded an honorary fellowship from NYU, as well as honorary doctorates from both MICA and the California College of the Arts. In 2022, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. Her work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions, with major solo shows such as Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ (2018); Joyce J. Scott: Truths and Visions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland (2015); Maryland to Murano: The Neckpieces & Sculpture of Joyce J. Scott at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York (2014-15); and Joyce J. Scott: Kickin’ It with the Old Masters at the BMA (2000). She has received commissions, grants, awards, residencies, and honors, including from MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2016), Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for the Arts, Anonymous Was a Woman, and Smithsonian Visionary Artist Award, among others. Scott’s work is also included in many public collections, including the BMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Seattle Art Museum, and many others.

Sharayna Christmas

Sharayna Ashanti Christmas is a mother, womanist, abolitionist and cultural worker who creates at the center of who she is. As a dancer filmmaker and assemblage artist, her work explores movement in relation to how our bodies connect with the subconscious to tell stories of our past, present and unseen. In 2004, Sharayna founded Muse 360, a youth-led organization on a mission to radically develop youth to use their voice and creative talents in pursuit of knowledge of self. Muse 360 offers opportunities to over 2000 annually in the area of civic engagement, entrepreneurship, high quality dance + artistic training and black diasporic study abroad trips. In 2017, she launched Necessary Tomorrows, a platform to support black/poc artists comprised of an advocacy agency, formative advisory, curatorial practice and fund. Her most recent work, New Generation Scholars Young Artist Archival Fellowship is a unique opportunity for emerging artists between the ages of 18 and 22 to explore and create new artworks inspired by Black diasporic history. This fellowship aims to provide a platform for young artists to delve into archival research, engage with historical materials, and develop their artistic practice within the context of the Black radical tradition. Sharayna has been the recipient of numerous awards, been featured on both national and international media platforms and holds a B.S. in Finance from Morgan State University.

Joshua Johnson Council (JJC)

Joshua Johnson Council (JJC) Members share a passion for African American and African art. Named after an 18th-century African American portrait painter who lived and worked in Maryland, the JJC is one of the oldest African American museum support groups in the U.S. Its mission is to forge meaningful connections between Baltimore’s African American communities and the Baltimore Museum of Art by promoting and highlighting the achievements of African American artists.

JJC Membership offers a wide range of opportunities for active participation within a network of friends and colleagues dedicated to art, education, community, and family. JJC programs and meetings take place on the second Thursday of each month. Find JJC on Facebook.

Lorraine Whittlesey

Lorraine Whittlesey, composer, producer, and poet, studied T.V. and film scoring at UCLA. She was composer-in-residence for the American Visionary Art Museum, and Project Director for the Computer Music Consort at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. Commissions and collaborations include the award winning performance series “Ebony and Irony” with Joyce J. Scott, and “Einstein’s Dreams…(it’s about time),” based on The New York Times bestselling novel, Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman. Her music was used for Arista Records’ Naughty By Nature, “19 Naughty 9, Nature’s Fury” and 20 of her original pieces have been premiered at Carnegie Hall. Her book HaikuYou was recently published by Brickhouse Books.