Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Montgomery.
Hi Mark, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My twin brother (Andy) and I were born and raised in Jacksonville, FL, to two loving parents, John and Sandra Montgomery. We were born with eyesight and hearing issues but never let those difficulties stop us from achieving our goals and passions in life. My perceived handicaps (I am legally blind in one of my eyes and partially deaf in one hear, too) were never a roadblock to me being a visual creative artist. I see myself more as a storyteller who uses creativity to tell my personal stories along with other people’s stories that I have learned in my journals of life.
We both attended Douglas Anderson School of the Arts; I graduated in ‘95, and my twin brother in ‘96, where we were in the Visual Arts department. I was determined to find a way to be a professional artist, so I continued my studies first at FCCJ (now FSCJ) and eventually at Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in Sequential Art (Comic book artist) with a minor in painting.
Eventually, I was given the opportunity to work in China at an international school (Yew Chung International School) as an Artist-In-Residence. This international school is based in Hong Kong but has many mainland Chinese campuses, and I was based in Shanghai. This was, in all honesty, one of the best jobs I have ever had, as I was paid to make art for the school campuses and share my art techniques and inspirations with both students and the greater community. I was not the student’s art teacher, but I was just pained to collaborate and become a professional artist at that school. This opportunity lasted 11 years in Shanghai.
After that time, I moved back home to Jax during COVID-19, and I could not make the pivot to finding another job opportunity in Asia at that time. Once back home here in Jacksonville, I started to try to build up freelance art jobs and grow my professional art career here. It has been a slow process, but I still keep working towards this goal of living my life as an artist.
I was involved with TAC (The Art Center of Jax) and had rented a studio on Monroe Street (close to the Lavilla Middle Art School) in downtown Jax, but sadly, due to the lease not being renewed, all the art studios had to pack up and leave. This challenge left me looking for a new art space and new creative opportunities to pursue. Through happenstance, a mutual friend of ours led me to work with and share a space with Stephen Ezell, who is a local coffee roaster in town. Stephen has the dream to produce a comic about coffee production from seed to a cup of coffee and all the in-between stuff that makes coffee. Once he explained this coffee comic concept, I was inspired to collaborate with him to make this a reality. So now I am working on this coffee comic and sharing space of a coffee roaster here in the Riverside area (2650 Rochelle Street, right across the parking lot of Bold City Brewery and close to the CORK Arts district), trying to reach for our dreams with making our dreams a reality.
It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I am legally blind, so this has always had its issues as I can’t drive or get around town as easily as others, but I have never used this handicap as a roadblock. I am a determined, motivated person with the same struggles and self-doubts as anyone else. Being legally blind, in all honesty, has afforded me a unique way to see the world. I also had scholarships and other accommodations that I used to help better myself and get one step closer to being a professional artist.
Thanks for sharing that. Can you tell us more about your work next?
Currently, in my creative practice, I am exploring portrait art as this allows me to learn other people’s stories and share them through my creativity. I love drawing people’s faces (animals, too!) as I learn so much about them by studying and observing their unique features. I have used vibrant colors and varied approaches to portray these portraits. Professionally, I am working on the coffee comic with Stephen Ezell called “Understanding Coffee.” Understanding coffee is a human story, and it will focus on the people who cultivate coffee. This story will be crafted to be educational and entertaining for people on all links of the chain of coffee from production to consumption. It will take many hours of research and travel to accomplish our goal of making this comic a reality. Our goal is to make this comic accessible to many different cultures and coffee appreciators, so we are developing a visual language as this will reach the broadest audience, and neither literacy nor language will be an issue. I am also passionate about teaching and sharing my art techniques, thoughts, and practices with students. I teach teen art classes weekly and always create and run specialized art classes around Jacksonville. I have taught and attended classes at the Murray Hill Art Center led by William McMahan.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I see every day I get up as a risk, as being legally blind has its issues, so I guess you could say I have become accustomed to taking risks. I see risk-taking as the only way to grow because complacency and repeatedly doing the same thing will hinder you. Wrist aching from me makes you uncomfortable as this is how you grow. All my life, people have told me that I can’t do what I want due to my visual limitations. Instead of believing them, I did what I thought was right for me, whether it was easy or hard. My risk-taking has led me to reach for my passions, both professionally and privately, as I have been able to travel around the world by just taking a risk. I am determined and confident that I can do anything. I set my heart to rest on what other people think about me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chinamark?igsh=MTUweXY0a2g4amFpaw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063593022470
Image Credits
Eldy Mendez; Portrait of Mark Montgomery in front of the Jessie DuPont Building in Jacksonville, FL Downtown (personal photo photographer)
