SYNERGY: A Panel in Connection with SHRINE

SYNERGY is a panel hosted by the Mattress Factory in connection with SHRINE – an exhibition of six artists from Sibyls Shrine in the Museum’s Monterey Annex building. Curator Jessica Gaynelle Moss will be moderating a discussion between Whitney McGuire and Wisdom Baty. Whitney and Wisdom both are actively doing work to support and uplift Black creative mothers.. The conversation will explore how Black women around the country are taking the onus upon themselves to build better futures for themselves and their children. 

Jessica Gaynelle Moss is based in Pittsburgh, Whitney McGuire will be coming from New York, and Wisdom Baty from Chicago. We are excited to host a conversation between these three women who have been working and thriving in work centered around black creative mothers in each of their respective cities. The work that the cohort in Sibyls Shrine has done around this is not happening in isolation. Join us in person on Thursday, November 10 from 6-8 PM in the Main Building Lobby to hear more about the labor and love being devoted to carving out a better future for Black mothers across the nation.

Register for free here.
We will be offering free childcare during this event. At this time we are only equipped to care for children who are bathroom independent. If your child is not bathroom independent, please consider keeping them with you during the talk. Please register any children by selecting the ‘child’ ticket on the registration form.

Light snacks and drinks will be provided for your enjoyment.

Can’t make it to the event in person? Tune in live via our YouTube channel!

About the Panelists & Host:

Whitney McGuire. Esq. (she/her/hers) is a mother, art, fashion and entertainment law attorney, legal and sustainability consultant & strategist, and co-founder of Sustainable Brooklyn, an organization that disrupts the whitewashing of sustainability and reclaims the legacy of sustainability in order to concretize equity in the sustainability movement. Sustainable Brooklyn’s key focus areas are fashion, agriculture and wellness. Whitney is a pioneer in the field of fashion law and a fierce advocate for the sustainability of communities first and most impacted by environmental and social degradation due to the climate crisis.  Whitney currently teaches various sustainable business classes at Parsons and sustainable fashion courses at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Wisdom Baty is a Chicago based interdisciplinary artist and arts collaborator interested in curating space for black and brown mothers and their children. With over a decade of community organizing, her practice reimagines physical space, autonomy and historical accuracy in support of black motherhood through a the lens of intersectionality and social practice. She is the founder and creative director of Wild Yams: Black Mothers Artist Residency.

Jessica Gaynelle Moss (b.1987) is an artist, custodian of Black art, and creator of platforms and spaces that invest in the historically excluded. Melding her dedication to making art, supporting artists and developing more equitable and just policies, Jessica’s creative practice and projects transcend any one medium, discipline or field, coalescing fine art with real estate development, institution-building and philanthropy. Beyond that she runs her own arts consultancy, curates exhibitions and performances, regularly leads art talks and studio critiques, serves on the leadership boards of various cultural entities, and is a frequent speaker on panels on the subjects of artist support, advocacy and stewardship.​ 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.