our collective counsel
Sibyls Shrine began in 2019 as a visionary project led by artist Alisha B Wormsley. Developed with administrative support from the program's Managing Director and Curator Jessica Gaynelle Moss, who has over 12 years experience with artists residency programs, and Community Artist Liaison Naomi Chambers, a Pittsburgh-native who has had an extensive visual arts career, Wormsley brought this dream to life. Wormsley, Moss and Chambers are all Black artists who m/other with rigorous creative practices and Pittsburgh-roots. With additional support from our administrative assistant, our digitial media intern and our organizational partners, Shiftworks Community + Public Arts, our team is here to serve you.
Alisha B Wormsley
Founder + Creative Director
Alisha B Wormsley is an interdisciplinary artist and cultural producer. Her work is about collective memory and the synchronicity of time, specifically through the stories of women of color. Wormsley’s work has been honored and supported with a number of awards and grants to support projects: The People Are The Light, afronaut(a) film and performance series, Homewood Artist Residency (recipient of the mayor’s public art award), the Children of NAN video art series, There Are Black People in the Future body of work. These projects and works have exhibited widely, including at the Andy Warhol Museum, Octavia Butler conference at Spelman University, Carnegie Museum of Art, Johannesburg SA, HTMLES in Montreal, Project Row House, the Houston Art League, Rush Art gallery in NY, and the Charles Wright museum in Detroit.
In the last few years her work in public art installation has grown with her design of art in several parks, afronaut(a) film series in public spaces, and Streaming Space, a 24-foot tall pyramid with video and sound installed in Pittsburgh's downtown Market Square. Wormsley has an MFA in Film and Video from Bard College and was recently awarded the Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University.
Photo credit: Njaimeh Njie
Jessica Gaynelle Moss
Managing Director + Curator
Jessica Gaynelle Moss (b. 1987) is an artist, independent curator, custodian of Black art, and consultant to institutions and private clients. She has an extensive background in program management, production and fabrication, nonprofit leadership, grant writing, community engagement and education. Jessica is committed to developing innovative, ethical and responsible solutions that advance the lives and work of black queer trans indigenous people of color women m/other and elder artists.
As an arts worker and consultant, Jessica has experience with a diverse roster of institutions including The Joan Mitchell Center, The City of Pittsburgh, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Heinz Endowment, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, The National Museum of African American History and Culture, The National Portrait Gallery, The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Art + Culture, The Center for Craft, Rebuild Foundation and DreamWorks Animation.
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.
Photo credit: Njaimeh Njie
McKenzie Grant-Gordon
Administrative Assistant
McKenzie is a Jamaican-American artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Born and raised in Maryland, McKenzie is a passionate and driven artist whose practice is rooted in liberation and love. Her work explores a sense of nostalgia infused with fantasies of the future by speaking to notions of heritage, community, and transformation. McKenzie’s art practice embraces a soulful vibrancy and beauty in the multiplicity of Black thought, identities, and experiences. She hopes her imagery cultivates space for herself and others to be reflected, respected, and empowered for generations to come. McKenzie Grant-Gordon lives/works: Brooklyn, NY | Education: Howard University, Washington, DC | Selected Exhibitions: Black Cherry, Brooklyn, NY, 2023; Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC, 2022
Photo credit: McKenzie Grant-Gordon
Thank you to our partners, supporters and funders.
Shiftworks Community + Public Art
Shiftworks Community + Public Art provides additional support as the Sibyls Shrine collaborating organization. Working mothers make up the entirety of the project team.
Thank you to our Funders:
The Wagner Foundation
The Heinz Endowments
POISE Foundation
Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise (PACE)
The Ford Foundation
The Opportunity Fund
The Pittsburgh Foundation
The Office for Public Art
Neighborhood Allies
Arts, Equity, & Education Fund