We were lucky to catch up with Kirk Montgomery recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kirk , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I knew I wanted to be an artist from the very beginning. There are stories about me as a small child, drawing all over the walls at my house! I was obsessed with comic books because of the art and draw constantly.
I was frequently being scolded by teachers for drawing in class. I just could not get enough of it.
On my first visit to New York I was stunned by a visit to MOMA. I still remember vividly my reactions when I saw Guernica by Picasso and The Persistence of Memory by Dali.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art with an MFA in painting. Upon graduation I struggled to find a job. After a time I got a job at the Birmingham Post-Herald as an artist, which eventually led me to the Philadelphia Inquirer. and then the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
I left the newspaper business in late 2019 and now do freelance illustration and graphic design,
My time in the news business taught me to work hard and work quickly. I have made hundreds of images in the last few years. It has been an extremely productive time. The is rarely a day that I don’t work on my art.
I work digitally now, using an iPad and the Procreate app. These tools are amazing and has allowed my to be more creative by cutting down on the time it takes to make an image.
I have certain themes that I pursue in my work.
I like landscapes, and that’s a subject I keep returning to over and over again.
I find that a lot of my work is magic realism or even surrealism.
Also, I pursue more controversial themes in works that blend multiple images together in hand-drawn montages.
It’s important to me to stay true to myself in my art. I’m not interested in trying to make art that I think will be popular, only work that is interesting to me.
My primary platform at this point is Instagram, where a great deal of my work is posted under the name kirkmontgomery1. I have gotten many commissions from Instagram.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One lesson I had to unlearn was very crucial to my development as an artist. I should first mention that my art school training has been varied and has included many positive lessons..
After struggling to find my way as an artist for many years, I decided to stop trying to make art with a capital A and going back to the kind of images that originally inspired me to be an artist.
I ditched my preconceptions art what art should be and began to search for subject matter that interests me.
I began to study techniques used by comic book artist, who work hard and have to meet tight deadlines. They have many tips and techniques to help them get things done very quickly and efficiently.
In the end I dumped a lot of fine arts training and used my new methods to make art. I study the ‘Old Masters’ of comic book art, like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. I don’t worry about all the old art school conventions anymore.. It’s made my art much more interesting.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Making art gives me a sense of purpose in life. It is fundamental to the way I see myself as well as the world around me. My process works in three basic steps:
1) Developing the concept, from idea to rough sketches.
2) Inking in a rough sketch to produce a highly-refined black and white drawing.
3) Adding color and highlights.
The process of deciding on the subject of a piece of art give me great joy. It’s the place when my brain accepts and rejects thought and concepts and molds my fundamental beliefs. I think it actually helps me understand my world and shapes the way I respond to its challenges.
The actual process of making art has a deep calming effect on me.
In my artistic process, I do a drawing by building up a series of repetitive strokes. This is a procedure that I find soothing and puts my brain in a place that seems similar to meditation. It’s the best anti-anxiety medication I could possibly hope for!

Contact Info:

• Website: kirkmontgomery.com
• Instagram: kirkmontgomery1
• Facebook: Kirkman Montgomery
• Linkedin: Kirk Montgomery
• Other: I am kirkmontgomery1 on Threads

Image Credits
Kirk Montgomery