Jessica Gaynelle Moss
Jessica Gaynelle Moss has made her some of her deepest contributions to the Charlotte art scene through her personal project and curation of exhibitions like those done through her position as the current Director of Development at BLK MRKT CLT, a creative studio supporting emerging artists of color in the southeast. Before this position, Moss served as the Creative Director of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture — a collecting museum founded in 1974 to honor the contributions of African-Americans in visual and performing arts.
Though she is a visual artist herself, Moss uses her skill set, formal education, and access to engage art lovers and communities of color with and without her own canvas. In 2007, she founded Roll Up where a forgotten and dilapidated residential living space became a hub for community artists and art lovers. This project now has homes in both Pittsburgh and Charlotte, NC. The project seeks to use art as a means of community redevelopment and economic improvement.
Artist who participate in the program come from all over and are planted into communities that fall vulnerable to poverty and concentrated disadvantage.
By connecting communities and artists as neighbors, the goal is to enhance the overall community well-being, transform people and neighborhoods, and create a space to contribute to social change.
The longevity of this program in both regions attests to its necessity and its embrace by selected communities. Progress is tracked as the programs range from six months to a year. Over that span, highly acclaimed artists are:
provided with a residence, space to produce and exhibit work, a materials budget, meal stipend, transportation and an honorarium. Artists are encouraged to build relationships with community members, to engage them in their creative practice, and to utilize the garage, which functions as the exhibition space, as a site for collaboration.
To learn more about Jessica Moss and her work, click here.
