Road Show: The Parrish Art Museum Brings Artist Candace Hill Montgomery To The Sag Harbor Whaling Museum In 'Hills

Each year, the Parrish Art Museum takes to the road by offering exhibitions at select venues throughout the East End. One of them is the Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum which, beginning this month, will show the work of Bridgehampton-based multi-media artist Candace Hill Montgomery, one of two participants in the 2019 Parrish Road Show.

The goal of the Parrish Road Show is to feature temporary projects by East End artists to connect creativity to everyday life. Recently, Ms. Hill Montgomery has focused her practice on weavings that reflect her life as well as current political/sociological issues. Approximately 25 of her weavings will be featured in “Hills & Valleys” at the Whaling Museum from May 17 to June 16. The location has deep meaning for Ms. Hill Montgomery, who spent summers in Sag Harbor from the age of 10. In addition to this off-site exhibition, works by both 2019 Road Show artists (Ms. Hill Montgomery and Laurie Lambrecht) will be on view at the Parrish from May 10 to November 10.

“I am thrilled to showcase Candace’s magnificent new weavings—they bring to life the layered and richly textured stories from the artist’s own experiences and her discerning observations of the world we live in,” said the Parrish’s Corinne Erni, Senior Curator of ArtsReach and Special Projects. “There is a distinct sense of assertion, sense of humor, and originality in these works that demand to be seen.”

Ms. Hill Montgomery’s work addresses issues of race, feminism, poverty, and the environment, balanced by the artist’s personal poetic lyricism. She weaves complex layers of her life experiences, fabricated narratives of political figures and celebrities, and references to current social and political challenges into her abstract artworks. Each weaving invites the viewer to delve into its very fiber to understand the many layers of shapes and narratives.

Using found objects or vintage farm equipment parts from the South that reference her heritage to mount the weavings, Ms. Hill Montgomery carefully chooses her threads, favoring hands-pun wool that absorbs dye unevenly thus producing nuanced colorations, as well as organically dyed yarns. Her handmade looms produce irregularities that honor the uneven, individual qualities of art-making. The varied materials and deliberately imperfect techniques bring strength and softness to tragicomedy contemporary narratives of particular concern to her: hunger, access to clean water, and homelessness.

The artist’s interest in the sewing arts goes back three generations to Ms. Hill Montgomery’s great-grandmother who owned a design and dressmaking store in Washington Heights, New York, as well as to her grandmother who taught her knitting, embroidery, and crocheting as a child.

“Candace Hill Montgomery: Hills & Valleys” runs May 17 to June 16 at Sag Harbor Whaling & Historical Museum, 200 Main Street. An opening reception will be held Saturday, May 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. To reserve, visit parrishart.org.