Jessica Gaynelle Moss is an artist who supports other artists through her curatorial work, consultancy and custodianship.
As an artist and practitioner her creative vision transcends traditional art boundaries. Her work -- merging fine art with real estate development, philanthropy and institution-building -- has been defined as social practice, creative place-making and public art. Embracing multiple mediums and disciplines, Jessica's practice centers interaction and relationships, asserting autonomy with authority, often through visual and textual declarations or convenings in public spaces.
A nationally recognized cultural producer with over a decade of experience, since 2012 Jessica has launched five artist residency programs across the country. From artist-led organizations like Theaster Gates' Rebuild Foundation to institutions like The Harvey B Gantt Center for African American Art + Culture, Jessica transforms what artist support can look like with each residency: centering artists' needs, focusing on long-term sustainability and embedding practices of care.
Currently, she serves as the artist relations director of Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI), an independent arts organization that supports over 70 artists, activists, and creative practitioners annually through residencies, workshops, civic engagement and innovative public events. In addition to that role, Jessica is also the managing director and curator of Alisha B Wormsley's Sibyls Shrine, an artist residency and network of 100+ Black artists who have m/othering practices, and the founding director of The Roll Up CLT, a neighborhood embedded artist residency program she launched in 2016.
Jessica received a bachelors in Fine Art from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009; a masters in Arts Administration, Policy and Management from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015; and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2018.
ABOUT JESSICA
Photo courtesy of THURNER PHOTOGRAPHY, 2024
TESTIMONIALS
"Jessica Gaynelle Moss is a rare kind of leader: one who moves with both strategy and heart. Her work expands what public art and arts administration can be—transformational, reparative, and rooted in justice."
- Executive Director Shiftworks Community + Public Art, Sallyann Kluz
"Jessica brings a wealth of knowledge and support to our Board of Directors at Brew House Arts. As a part of our executive team, Jessica’s deep understanding of the field helps to support my organizational leadership. She is someone I can trust for real guidance on how to balance a radical institutional vision with practicality in practice, and I can always depend on her to be a strong advocate for the care and consideration of artists at every step of our work.
- Executive Director Brew House Arts, Natalie Sweet
"Jessica’s commitment to inclusivity is not only authentic but transformative, making it one of her greatest strengths as a leader."
- Executive Director The Light Factory, Kay Tuttle
“As someone at the beginning of my career, having someone think that my ideas are important, my projects are important. And really, Jessica was helping me see levels of importance of the work I didn’t even see. She was always emphasizing to me the importance of community, Black history, Black art history, Black collecting history and the need to really preserve our story. And through having those conversations I realized that this was a project that needs to be done and this is a project that I can do.”
- Artist, Seed Money Fund grantee, Marques Redd PhD