ABOUT THE ARTIST:

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Lala Montoya was born and raised in Medellín Colombia, a land of strong mountains, ancient lakes and careful campesinos. It is this abundance of nature, and the abundant nature within each of us - the way nature is expressed in the body, in the work of Life - that inspires Montoya’s powerful earthen art (ceramics, painting, printing from wood carving blocks). It is through these mediums that Montoya seeks to illuminate the beauty of time, of age - to make transparent the small details often missed in the rush of progress and perfection.

 

Montoya's journey, is masker by motherhood, by working with youth at Poughkeepsie farm project, by tending land and saving seeds, by language justice. Montoya is a recent recipient of the Creatives Build NY grant, a grateful and inspired mother, and is currently rooted at the foot of the Hudson Valley in Poughkeepsie, NY.

 

What identities are important to you and how have they impacted your practice?

We -  ( have deliberately have moved away from the I ) identify as Latinex , we identify as all of our ansestors from Colombia /  we Identify with having a Female body, birthing a child and the immigrant experience. All of these impacts our practice as it is what we paint - we also dream that all these identites will have a future where they will thrive and that visionary fiction is also the subject of our work.  

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What to expect at the studio?

Folks are invited to bring a piece of clothing or fabric and get to use some of the studio prints to print onto the clothes they bring!