Talk: Jane Panetta on Juanita McNeely

Join Jane Panetta, Aaron I. Fleischman Curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for a conversation with CAM Ferring Foundation Chief Curator Dean Daderko as they trace the artistic journey around the monumental painting Triskaidekaptych, the centerpiece of CAM’s exhibition of work by Juanita McNeely as part of Counterpublic 2026: Coyote Time. The conversation will expand to include Simon Kelly, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) to offer insight into the simultaneous presentation at SLAM and the complementary first-ever solo presentations of McNeely’s work in her hometown. Jane Panetta is the Aaron I. Fleischman Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Panetta joined The Met in 2023, where she’s ushered in major acquisitions, recently curating The Genesis Facade Commission: Jeffrey Gibson, The Animal That Therefore I Am (2025), and David Hartt: Peripheries (2026). Additionally, Panetta is working closely on the museum’s forthcoming Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art. Previously, Panetta served as the Nancy and Fred Poses Curator and Director of the Collection at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she oversaw acquisitions (including work by Juanita McNeely), collection displays, and co-direction of long-term planning for the collection. At the Whitney, she served on the curatorial team for America Is Hard to See (2015), co-curated the 2019 Whitney Biennial, and organized solo presentations of the work of Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Willa Nasatir, Juan Antonio Olivares, Jennifer Packer, and Rose B. Simpson. Prior to this, she worked at The Museum of Modern Art on monographic exhibitions including Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul (2006), Richard Serra: Forty Years (2007), and James Ensor (2009). Panetta received her B.A. from Haverford College and her M.A. in Art History from Hunter College and serves on the Madison Square Park Conservancy’s Public Art Consortium. This talk is generously supported in part by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Counterpublic, and the Robert Lehman Foundation. Special thanks to the St. Louis Art Museum.