ARTIST CELEBRATES FALL, HOMETOWN
Deb Montgomery showcases paintings of various buildings and locations around town
For Sterling Creatives’ latest featured artist there’s “Gnome Place Like Home.” Deb Montgomery is celebrating both fall and her hometown of Sterling for her latest exhibit at the gallery.
In her latest collection, you’ll find several fall-themed gnome paintings on wooden boards, some pumpkins and her first attempt at jewelry with resin, as well as pastel creations showing some of her favorite locations around Sterling. While some of the locations are obvious, like Sterling Recreation Center’s outdoor pool and the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, others only show hints of the location, making people really have to think about what it might be, especially for four pieces that show past Sterling businesses that are no longer in operation.
“I knew I wanted to do something with local establishments and then I wanted to figure out how to bring fall into it, so I decided I would do fall gnomes,” Montgomery said.
She was inspired by Sterling Creatives’ new member, Michelle Meade, when she saw some of her creations with tags that said Colorado made, “I was like, oh, well we should have something that says Sterling made.” So, she created a small Sterling stamp with the Logan County Courthouse that says Sterling made for cooperative members to use on their creations if they want to and that extended into creating pastel paintings of different locations.
Montgomery chose to focus on pastel because that is her favorite medium right now. She entered one painting in the Logan County Fair this year and that kind of evolved into her going back to doing pastel creations again after having taken a break from it.
“I really do like them, it’s really fun to do them on black and you have to really think about drawing opposite how you normally would, because normally you have the white and you have to add the black, but this way you start with your shadows and you have to add your light. So,
it’s an interesting juxtaposition,” Montgomery said.
As for how she chose the locations to include in her exhibit, Montgomery said the buildings are mainly ones that are important to her family. For example, Baja Tacos is a family staple and her daughters still come to Sterling from Denver to enjoy their food.
“I’ve always thought that the Fox Theatre building was really cool, especially back in the day when you used to be able to go upstairs and there was a balcony, and then the Chamber’s building is cool because it was an old depot,” Montgomery said.
Look closely at the Fox 5 Theatre painting and you’ll see the theatre is showing a number of old classics including “Star Wars,” “The Shining,” “Footloose,” “Dirty Dancing” and “The Goonies.”
She also included a pastel painting of Sterling’s water tower on Front Street, with the small train in front, because that’s kind of the symbol of Sterling.
“Then I just started getting ideas of well what if I did something that was even more abstract,” Montgomery said, so she created smaller pieces that are snapshots of what that location is.
Asked if there are any other locations she would like to use for feature creations, the artist shared that a couple of years ago she started working on a collage with the old Great Western Sugar Beet Factory and she was going to try to fit it into this show, but it didn’t end up getting finished.
“I still have it; I’ll still probably do something with that. When I was growing up that’s what my dad did, was raise sugar beets, so that’s a special memory to me, the sugar beet harvest,” Montgomery said.
You can meet the artist at Sterling Creatives’ First Friday Open House this Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 129 N. Third St. There will be refreshments, door prizes and crafts.
Montgomery’s work will remain on display for the entire month of October, visitors can come by anytime to see it. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sterling Creatives is also joining in on Logan County Arts League’s Artsober celebration, with Halloween Paint Nights online presented by Emerge on Oct. 8, 14, 15, 16 and 23, an Emerge Paint Night on Oct. 21 and 28 and Kids Paint with Emerge on Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. To find out more about any of these events, go to https://sterlingcreativesl. wixsite.com or like Sterling Creatives on Facebook.