James Montgomery
1936 - 2008; Marin County, California ∙ CE artist from 1993 - 2008
James Montgomery worked at Creativity Explored from 1993 until his death in March 2008. Montgomery used a variety of media with great proficiency, including pastels, acrylics, watercolors, tempera, pencils, inks, chalk, found objects, and mixed media.
The iconography of Montgomery’s art centered on watches, numbers, sewer covers, and bridges. Watches were especially relevant as James collected them, often wearing eight at one time. His graphically powerful works were often composed of line drawings of repeating watches, covering the picture plane in overlapping layers. Montgomery also utilized his trademark washes of color in portraits, landscapes, and marine scenes. Montgomery's work was featured in Create, a traveling exhibition that first opened at University Of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 2011 and numerous exhibitions at Creativity Explored.
Select Exhibitions & Projects
2020
Wo bin ich? – Where am I?, Kuntshaus Kannen, Museum für Outsider Art und zeitgenössische Kunst, Münster, Germany
2015
Dance Party!, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2014
Accident and Artifact, San Francisco, CA
Create, Museum of Art at Washington State University, Pullman, WA
2013
Outsider Artists, Oakland International Airport, Oakland, CA
Create, Boca Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
2012
Create Traveling, Cantor Art Gallery, Stanford, CA
2011
Create, University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
2008
Finders Keepers, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2007
Transmissions, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Shadowshine, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Seeing Memory, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Naked, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2006
Vessels, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Notables, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2005
Wear to Go, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2004
Gesture, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
Functionable, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2003
LIT: Lamps, Lanterns, and Shadow, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
2002
The Power of Color, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA