Shonda McCarthy Simmons (also known as Shon McCarthy and Shon Simmons; born 1973 of 1974) is the Director/

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of three

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

art galleries. The galleries are JSU's Johnson Hall gallery, College of Liberal Arts gallery, and JSU Downtown galleries. Exhibitions are student centered and assist to "Exposure+Experience=Lifelong Learning"(gallery mission) for student by including student work with the international and national artists' exhibitions. Exhibitions have ranged from painting created by musician George Clinton. JSU was the first university to exhibit his paintings. In September 2016, McCarthy collaborated with the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

and procured a gifted 25 piece permanent collection of Patrick Kelly (thanks to a donation from Bill and Bjorn Amelan). Spring of 2017, she collaborated with London's Belgravia Art Gallery to bring art created and signed by

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

. McCarthy created JSU's Gallery1 Summer Art Institute and where JSU Department of Art Alumni taught art to 150 K-9 students. For two summers, she supervised and instructed art to over 200 K-9 students this included mulit-medium art to sewing instruction. McCarthy later procured an additional 250 plus pieces from the Patrick Kelly collection in the summer of 2017, it is housed the H.T. Sampson Archives. For ten years, McCarthy was a fashion designer in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She created an accessories line that became known as the "It Bag" for celebrities. She has been mentioned have in financial publications such as the ''

Wall St Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' and Nikkei in Japan, ''Vogue'' online, ''Elle'' (US, Italy, UK) and Japan, Harpers Bazaar Japan and ''Lucky Magazine'' write-ups. The accessories were carried in stores such as Bloomingdales, Henri Bendel,

Harvey Nichols Harvey Nichols is a British luxury department store chain founded in 1831, at its flagship store in Knightsbridge, London. It sells designer fashion collections for men and women, fashion accessories, beauty products, fine wines and luxury f ...

, Fred Segal, and LeBon Marche. She was a guest speaker for a Marketing class at Parsons Fashions School in New York. McCarthy is a licensed art instructor. McCarthy instructed a class at Millsaps College's Enrichment Series titled, " How To Start Your Own Fashion Line" in 2015 and 2016. She received her B.A. from

Millsaps College Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college in Jackson, Mississippi. It was founded in 1890 and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. History The college was founded in 1889–90 by a Confederate veteran, Major Reuben Webster M ...

and her Masters from Jackson State University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Shon Living people People associated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art Jackson State University alumni American fashion designers American art curators American women curators American art directors Year of birth missing (living people) American women fashion designers 21st-century American women