Artist Bella LaMontagne
Congratulations to Bella LaMontagne for earning her place as a Finalist in the Boynes Artist Award 9th Edition [Young Artist category]!
Who are you?
I am a collage artist living and working in Shelburne Falls Massachusetts. My husband, Sebastian and I live above an airbnb and this is where I make my work as well. The apartment is a renovated attic with very dramatic eaves, especially in the room where my studio lives so I like to joke that my studio is like an artist’s garret. I grew up primarily in Augusta Georgia and spent my teenage years living in Los Angeles. I met my husband in my first and only year of college in Bennington Vermont. We clicked like two puzzle pieces instantaneously and we eloped three months later. During our second term Covid-19 hit the US so mostly everyone finished out the second term at home. I went to live with Sebastian and his family in Massachusetts. It was during this time that I started to realize my potential as an Artist. Sebastian is a writer, his mother a poet, his brother a filmmaker, and his father a musician. I was surrounded by creative minds! Their lifestyle was something very unfamiliar to me and also a possibility I had never seriously considered in terms of what I could do with my life. I was very lucky to spend some time at my in-law’s house. It gave me the opportunity to discover whole sections of myself and my potential that I hadn’t fully realized.
“At the back of the north wind”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
What inspired you to utilize Collage as a medium?
One day I was looking through my in-law’s library and I came across a few magazines that were composed of artworks done by outsider artists. This is where I first started to see collages. I was immediately interested in this style of art. Many of the artworks were swimming with colors. The marks were spontaneous, emotional, and absolutely raw. I was drawn to all the details and the repetition I saw and how the artists would fill up the space they were working on. It was the collages I was most drawn to. This was the kind of art I wanted to do, the kind of art I could connect with, and so I started to make collages. Sebastian’s mom had a bunch of magazines, picture books, glue, and a myriad of craft supplies to get me started. Making collages was the most fun I had had in my whole life. Each piece I made I liked. I had made art before and had always felt disconnected from it but with collage, I was so connected to the pieces of paper I would pull out of books and magazines. The whole process of physically deconstructing a previous context and putting it back together to create my own was unbelievably grounding. Since my first collage I have not been able to stop!
“Sweet fruits”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
How would you describe your ARTwork?
The context of my artwork tends to linger in the in-between spaces of what is real and what is imagined. I draw a lot from stories, folklore, and symbolism. I definitely like to create a narrative in my pieces so there are usually characters, a place, and I almost always add words to create
more of a context for what it all means. Working in the context of magic and mystery started as a way of understanding a difficult childhood. When I turned 18 and it was my turn to go off on my own and be an adult, I was not a completely whole person. There were so many aspects of my family and my history that I was still trying to understand. When I started collaging I was able to communicate my own story by visualizing it in a magical and symbolic context. It gave the darkness in my life a more meaningful purpose and by giving the darkness meaning I could understand it and appreciate it for being there. The natural world is also a driving force in my artworks. Nature, symbols, and folklore are all firmly connected and it’s those connections to our world and the human experience I am always striving to communicate.
“Brahma”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind your winning work?
Waking Acts was a piece I made for a call for art where the theme was "dance". I had a fairy garden aesthetic in mind for the piece and so I decided to use an old book cover as my substrate to give it more of a storybook quality. The old beige paper that adorned the inside of the cover was a perfect color match for the vintage music paper I wanted to use for the piece. I also wanted to experiment with the concept of paper dolls and to create my own spin that would make the paper doll unique to the theme. As I started to put the paper doll together I thought of my two siblings and the three of us playing outside as kids. All three of us used to really enjoy musicals and singing karaoke together. We would often find the karaoke version to our favorite songs from various musicals we liked and would compose a routine to create our own performance. Somewhere in the making of our performance one or all of us would start to micromanage the routine too much and we would get bossy with one another leading to the whole routine to fall apart. Looking back I find it a nostalgic memory. As someone who isn’t much of a dancer at all it makes me smile to remember how passionate and serious we felt about our routines when we were little. Referring to the different faces of the paper doll as “diamonds” was a reference to the diamonds in the animated series Steven Universe who are also bickering siblings!
“Waking acts”
Analog collage on vintage book cover
By Bella LaMontagne
Can you walk us through the technical steps of creating your winning work?
Usually when I start to make a new piece I have an idea in my mind of what I imagine it can be. Many of my pieces stem from books or podcasts I am learning from. An idea that I am interested in will mull over in my head for a while until I start to form visual connections that will eventually become art. I also need to constantly be experimenting with something new or else I don’t feel as satisfied with the finished work. I have a general process that acts as a sort of guide for each piece. First, I start with a blank substrate that I activate with marks. These marks can be words, numbers, lines, paint, etc. I don’t pay too much mind to what I’m putting on the surface because most of these marks will be covered up. I just mark how I feel at the moment. This allows me to get over the intimidation I feel at looking at a blank surface. Then I start to layer. I start with prints I make myself, usually with my gelli plate printer. Recently I have been incorporating cyanotypes in my pieces as well. Then I start to create a more detailed composition. This part takes time. A large part of my process involves taking photos of different
paper pieces in various positions. This allows me to experiment with different versions of the composition without making it permanent yet. I usually let it sit for a few days or a week until something clicks and I know whether it's right or something needs to change. The final stage of any piece usually involves adding more marks to sort of blend the whole piece together and finally I add words to give the piece more of a narrative.
“Contains the phenomenal world”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
What do you hope to communicate to an audience with your work?
Simply put, I want to create something that just makes people feel good about the world and their place in it. We live in this crazy big world full of so much wonder and magic all around us. Every facet of the universe has a beginning and end, and a connection to everything around it. These connections are beautiful, profound, and most of all help human beings recognize seemingly whole worlds that don’t get paid as much attention to in the rut of everyday human existence. Western society doesn’t allow much time for people to just exist and think about how much there is to see and explore even within the spaces we live and work. I believe in existing for the sake of existing, and living for the sake of bettering oneself. I want my audience to feel that too.
“Creating the world again”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your work?
I think one of my biggest learning experiences has been not to be hesitant about getting the materials I need. When I first started making collages the only paint I had was a watercolor palette and I was determined to get the most out of it before I went and bought any other paints. I liked using watercolor but I had to also accept that when I added collage or anything involving the use of a wet glue the colors would move around causing some relatively happy accidents. I mostly just went with it and resolved that this struggle would just be a part of my work and my process, but when I finally got myself some acrylic paints I was so much happier with what I could do with my pieces. I could do more with the colors, I started making gelli plate prints, and I didn’t have to worry about the paints bleeding with my collage elements. When you are first starting out it can be hard to know what tools you need or what will make your artwork even better. I think sometimes this is a lesson I still learn!
“Creation”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?
I think my biggest success was being accepted and participating in Kolaj Institute’s Folklore and Collage Residency. Before doing this residency I often had a sort of imposter syndrome feeling as far as calling myself an artist. I was making art and feeling really good about what I was making, but it still felt very new and because I am self taught, a part of me wondered if I
was making the right choices to get me closer to building a more successful career as an artist. Being around like minded people who were all working and learning together and from each other, was exactly the boost in confidence I needed to keep going and to truly know that this is what I was meant to do. I received great advice and was inspired and learned new ideas for next steps in my artistic path.
“I’m god”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
Can you share with us the best piece of advice you you wish you had known at the start of your career?
There is a really inspiring quote I like by Mary Catherine Bateson: “Improvisation can be either a last resort or an established way of evoking creativity.” This quote basically sums up my entire artistic journey. When I create by just moving with my gut, it feels as if the art and myself are both consciously working together to bring the finished piece into being. The art wants to live just as much as I want it to and part of creating is letting go so that the art can fully come to itself.
“Egg”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
What projects are you working on currently? Can you discuss them?
I have a few projects I am working on at the moment. The first is an assemblage piece that has 3 inch wooden circles mounted onto a 20 inch gold hoop. I have collaged cyanotypes that I made using my old coffee filters onto the wooden circles. In the middle of the circle I am in the process of creating a sort of spider web using white embroidery thread. I will finish the piece by collaging a narrative that will move around the circle and into the web itself. The concept behind the work is playing with time and how it is captured by the summer light. I imagine the viewer's eyes traveling around the circles with the changing light and shadow and getting to feel that day dream-like slowness that time in nature possesses. I have also been working on a collage that is being composed in a flag book. Lastly I am participating in a really fun and collaborative postal collage project with Special Agent Collage Collective. The final collages will be exhibited in Berkeley CA next May.
“Paper wings”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
What is your dream project or piece you hope to accomplish?
One day I would really like to create a large-scale collage public art piece. Something I want and am striving to do more in my practice is to focus more on community building. Creating public art and even doing public collaborative art pieces seems a really wonderful way of becoming more familiar with a place and making it more beautiful and dynamic in the process.
“Survival”
Analog collage on paper
By Bella LaMontagne
Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists, what is your advice?
I think the best advice I can give is to just keep making art! It’s important to keep in mind that even in a sea of rejection, making art is what makes us who we are and if that is enough you are unstoppable! Keep applying, keep creating, and think about how you can organize your own artist opportunities through your communities as well.
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