February 21, 2019 to May 12, 2019
La Guilde proudly presented Monster Faience, the first Montreal exhibition for Lindsay Montgomery, a multidisciplinary artist from Montreal. From February 21 to May 12, 2019, La Guilde invited its visitors to discover 15 ceramic artworks drawn from the artist’s two series: Neo-Istoriato and Monster Faience.
Recipient of the prestigious Winifred Shantz Award issued by the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in 2018, Lindsay Montgomery is known for her visually dense and subversive ceramic artworks with traces of allegories and history. Her practice is developed through several mediums such as painting, video and installation. Her work is centered on the arrangement of an imaginary and personal mythology which explores issues about death, family, beauty and history.
“My Neo-Istoriato series re-imagines Italian Maiolica ceramics and medieval manuscript illustrations to create narratives, myths and cautionary tales. My imagery and forms explore pagan rituals, animal archetypes, modes of power, and encounters with the dead or supernatural, to highlight the persistent tensions with monarchy, colonialism, and feminism that continue to perpetuate destruction and inequality today.”
- Lindsay Montgomery
Monster Faience kicked-off the 2019 program at La Guilde. This exhibition allowed La Guilde to continue with its mandate to present and promote emerging artists.
ABOUT LINDSAY MONTGOMERY
Lindsay Montgomery works across a variety of media including ceramics, painting and puppetry to create narrative videos, performances and objects. Her work is focused on creating personal mythologies that address a wide range of topics and issues including death and mysticism, family dynamics, and evolving modes of power. She earned a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and received her MFA from the University of Minnesota.
Her work has been exhibited in Canada and internationally with exhibitions at the Gardiner Museum, and for the Archie Bray Foundation and the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Helen Copeland Memorial Award in Ceramics, The Joyce Carlyle Memorial Scholarship in the Crafts Endowment, and an individual project grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. She lives and works in Toronto.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In her Neo-Istoriato series, the artist re-imagines Italian Maiolica ceramics and medieval manuscript illustrations to create narratives, myths and cautionary tales. Her imagery and forms explore pagan rituals, animal archetypes, modes of power, and encounters with the dead or supernatural in order to highlight the persistent tensions with monarchy, colonialism, and feminism that continue to perpetuate destruction and inequality today. The Istoriato style from Renaissance Italy provided an opportunity to reclaim a device that propagated patriarchal classical social norms of this era. In response, her work utilizes the practice of an ancient craft to convey a message through images and narrative forms that she continues to expand upon as this ongoing project evolves.