About Jess
Jess McPherson is a master artisan and arts & culture strategist with twenty years of experience in the arts & culture impact sector. Jess holds a Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice and a Bachelor of Fine Art from Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. She believes in the ability of the arts and the strength of cultural connectedness to build unique, robust, and thriving communities. Her depth of experience as a professional artist, curator, cultural educator, and creative entrepreneur, along with her leadership guiding not for profit cultural organizations through periods of growth and change, shape her perspective and inform her careful approach to social impact. She currently owns and operates Jess McPherson Arts & Consulting in York, PA, co-creating strategies for growth with individual artists and culturally-centered initiatives throughout the MidAtlantic.
Jess McPherson is a Reckoning with Lancaster Project Community Fellow at Franklin & Marshall College.
Arts & Culture Impact Consulting
- Are you a Native Organization looking to do some board development, strategic planning, or leadership consultation?
- Are you an arts/arts advocacy or an Indigenous org looking to evaluate or design programs or systems that provide more meaningful impact in your community?
- Are you an educator looking for an arts & culture impact expert with a strong background in Urban Indian or Central PA/Maryland Indigenous experience?
Master Artisan Made Fine Craft
Jess McPherson has been awarded the title of Master Artisan by the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen for her handwrapped threadwork jewelry, mastering the benchmarks of excellence in execution, resolved design, and unique voice.
Artist Statement
My current work focuses on hand-wrapped threadwork jewelry, an amalgam of proficiency in the contemporary craft of threadwork combined with inspiration found in my dad’s garage, my studies in fine art, and my efforts to process the very human experiences of love and grief, holding moments to remember and intentions for strength, balance, and focus through the journey. This work connects the threads of histories past and present, pulling them forward, intertwining and weaving them into new stories carried forward into new futures by each wearer.
Alongside the making of these unique works, I explore things that bring me joy in eastern woodlands aesthetics, pulling together contemporary life and historical influence to create cultural connection points celebrating Susquehanna and Mid-Atlantic Native communities. I hope for each wearer to feel seen and recognized by their audience and community. It gives me great joy to see my customers wear my work at moments when they want look and feel their best selves.
Recent Events
February 22nd, 2025
1719 Museum Longhouse Docent Training
Providing substantial training for volunteer docents has allowed the 1719 Museum to rebuild and improve its volunteer engagement and retention. This year's training built upon previous learning, allowing us to focus on key areas responsive to the questions docents feel most challenged to answer and deepening their understanding of the early 1700s human experience in Lancaster.
February 20th, 2025
Masterclass & Lecture with historian Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone)
Ned asks our campus to consider the question "Are Indians viewed as a race in America and if so when did we become racialized?" Reckoning with living in both a political identity and racial identity is a complex experience, but understanding "Indians" as citizens of sovereign nations and examining U.S. history through this lens opens new understandings of how America has built its own identity in a global context.
February 18th, 2025
Food Sovereignty Discussion and Indigenous Foods Feast with Chef Sherry Pocknett (Mashpee Wampanoag)
Rebuilding and deepening connections between Native people is critical to maintaining thriving east coast communities. We reunite old friends and create new connections to give stage to a stories of Indigenous food sovereignty, sharing the interconnectedness of people, life, and environment. Chef Sherry and her family fed our community in so many ways. Sherry's food tastes like love and care and like returning home.
February 11th, 2025
Lecture, Craft Talk & Reading with writer, Angelique Stevens (Haudenosaunee)
Each of us has unique value and our communities require we share of ourselves with abundance. What a special day to have spent so much time listening to Professor Stevens' expert understandings of language and to share in the universality of some experiences. Highlights that ignite new understandings: exploring the language of poverty and "Language limits you, but you are limited by language."
Copyright Jess McPherson, 2025.