These exciting workshops are offered in partnership with the public art and storytelling exhibition The Stories of Us. Hosted by Y Arts at the Boll Family YMCA, the workshops are led by artists featured in the Stories of Us collection who will share their knowledge of portrait painting in FREE classes for both youth and adults. This is a great opportunity for families to create together!

Artist: Cailyn Dawson

Artist: Peter Daniel

About the Artists

Cailyn Dawson

Cailyn Dawson (b. 1999, Detroit, Michigan) is a figurative painter whose work explores issues of identity subjectivity, the psychology of navigating an evolving self, and themes of how separation and displacement affect racial identity. Dawson has exhibited at the College for Creative Studies, Detroit Artist Market, Annex Gallery, M Contemporary, Buckham Gallery, and at the Andy Performing Arts Center. She received her BFA from the College for Creative Studies in 2021 and lives and works in Metro Detroit.

Peter Daniel

Peter Daniel Bernal originates from Houston, Texas and graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2000 with a BFA in painting. He received additional education at the Rhode Island School of Design and trained in printmaking and drawing in Weimar, Germany, where he lived from 2010 to 2015. In 2015, he relocated from Germany to Detroit. His primary focus is on storytelling-based oil painting, but he also creates polychromed ceramic, linoleum prints, and pastel drawings. Since living in Detroit, he is also working as a muralist around the city.