Photo By: Bobby Thompson
My name is Molly Jean Montgomery. People call me Molly, a few call me Molly Jean.
With little, to no formal training in art, or art history, my style is abstract expressionist (although i’m not familiar with all the other expressionist derivatives, maybe i’m one of those). An art teacher in high school said I was Fauve. I’m inspired by the past, when I say past I don’t always mean the style of art. I could mean the fashion, the way of life, the philosophy and culture of people in that moment. I truly love art, in all its forms and all its stages in history. I’m lucky to live near Kansas City, with its beautiful museums and a vibrant art community.
The things that inspire me most are history, love, divinity, and nature. On occasion my work is fueled by something darker, lacking romance and inspired by fear, regret or anger. Inspiration will also come to me while reading a book, watching a movie or listening to a song. My goal is to show people how I feel and experience this world, and share that experience with them. After my journey my art will be the evidence. Keep reading if you would like to know more about me.
What Makes Me Tick
Living for me is often a struggle between love,disdain and hate. Love for the ones I hold dear, laughter, the beauty in nature and so many things in this bizarre world. Hatred for all the evils and injustices that exist now and in the past, and people’s complete lack of empathy towards creatures outside their own species and within.
Knowing that people don’t understand and may hate me for my views on God, and sexuality. Disdain for the ones that believe either of those things should hold relevance to our survival and how we live as a species. The knowledge that we humans are destroying the very habitat we rely on for survival, and I’m an active participant in that. I hate my hypocrisy.
I yearn for the day, when it is no longer a struggle to hold on to joy, and the fear of it slipping away is no longer a fear. When everything becomes overwhelming my code (of sorts) is to just be. How do you do that? How do you just exist, to shut out the influences, the noise, all the shit? Nearly every second I’m alive I’m just being Molly Jean, and on the occasion I have to ask myself…to quote a David O Russell film, “How am I not myself…How am I not myself? How am I not myself.”
A Short Biography
I’ve had a yearning to express myself my whole life, trying many creative outlets. It started as a young girl, when I inherited a piano, and played until my passion for it died out. Not being much of a reader, books were substituted with movies, serial prime time dramas and sitcoms. However, not reading alot didn’t keep me from writing, I kept a regular journal, wrote poetry and thought out stories, I still do those things. In high school, came live theater and an interest in acting. Also enrolling in art class, it was there I found the potential to be creative with paint. I have a very talented uncle who paints and all my life had seen several of his paintings hanging in our house, and my older brother too was an artist. Going into college I set down my paints, and took several theater classes and participated in each semester’s play for two years.
After a couple years out of school, any formal education may have ceased, but I’ve always sought out knowledge. Knowledge of the intellectual kind and spiritual. At a young age, I began my own path to lead me to something that has sparked my curiosity for nearly my whole life. Some call it God, the Goddess, or just the divine, but any connection I have to them are metaphorical and through nature. The thought that those are tangible things, out there in the universe is something I cannot and probably will never surrender myself to. With that, it is more the intention behind the idea of the belief, not the belief in the thing itself. Does that make sense? Some call it secular paganism. My main philosophy is; anything is possible. But, I sometimes have to ask, is anything possible?
In 2008 my cousin invited me to a modeling shoot for people just starting out their portfolio, and I decided to give it a try. With some minor success at it, I was invited to pose for local designers and walked several fashion show runways, but it was short lived and i’m glad I did it.
One winter in early 2009 I was introduced to a group of local filmmakers, the Independent Filmmakers Coalition of Kansas City. With that introduction sprang a hobby for filmmaking. I’d come to appreciate good lighting, good sound, etc. What a wonderful world I had discovered, so many ways to be creative when it comes to film.
Working on other peoples films is a rewarding experience in itself, but I still wasn’t satisfied. In the spring of 2009, reconnecting with the paint brush, I started making pictures. Since then, my new passion is the most accessible way of expression for me.
Thank you for your time,
Molly Jean Montgomery
Photo by: Bobby Thompson
