June Kelly Gallery


Claudia DeMonte Bio

An exhibition of sculpture, drawings, and installations by Claudia DeMonte, work informed through her travels and observation of sentiments, challenges, issues, and dreams of women universally, will open at the June Kelly Gallery on October 20.  The exhibition will remain on view through January 10, 2023.

The exhibition, entitled Sogni, Italian for dreams, reflects DeMonte’s grasp of memories played out as dreams of imaginary events experienced in the mind while asleep.

Perchance to dream …, says DeMonte, my art has evolved to dreams which accompanied by memories are the only “things” for which we truly hold authentic and singular ownership.  This sense of proprietorship has fueled my work at this critical juncture in today’s world and at this crossroad in my life.  The work portrays my identity, my sentiments of otherness, empathy, inclusion, and gratitude which speak to all audiences.  And the audiences that comprised my childhood in Queens, NY– the most ethnically diverse borough in the United States.  I took all the dreams of those “dreamers” in my lifetime along with me.

My dreams are the informers of my art.  The interpretations of dreams and how determined we must be to fulfill them led me to where I stand today.  I used dreams, memories, and the issues facing us all in high art materials such as bronze as well as craft – women embroiderers in Morocco - to create a mix that conveys the soul of everyone’s dreams that have a global voice and resonance.

DeMonte’s portrayals of women through earlier exhibitions reflect evolution of the gender. Fully aware of the multiple roles that are mirrored worldwide based on being female and the expectations thereof, DeMonte employs an array of media, bronze sculpture, charcoal on paper drawings of fragmented forms perhaps metaphorically, as the act of dreaming.

Determination and grit are key roles of DeMonte’s sculptures…from earlier homemaker with pewter everyday items, traveler with luggage tags from around the world, consumer with archetypical high-end Birkin handbag, all encrusted with pewter pictographic configurations, to her last exhibit with navigator, depicted as a mature woman in sturdy shoes balancing proficiently as she sails on a skateboard, and now, Leap of Faith, 2022 with woman atop staircase positioned to dive into space.  Perhaps, to dive into her dreams for as DeMonte’s installation of Tote Bags with embroidered wording, “You Can’t Take it With You.”

My works here reflect today’s world and how women globally are navigating.  Much can be downsized, says DeMonte, but never one’s dreams nor their origin.

DeMonte lives and works in New York City and Miami Beach, FL.  She received a bachelor's degree from College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore and an MFA from Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.  DeMonte's work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally.  The many public and private collections in which she is represented include the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Bass Museum, Miami, FL; Flint Institute of Art, MI; Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS; Lowe Museum, Miami Beach, FL; New Orleans Museum of Art, LA; Indianapolis Museum of Art; University of Maryland, College Park; Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA; Portland Museum of Art, ME; Contemporary Art Museum, Villa Rufolo, Ravello, Italy; Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, Poland; and University of Oldenburg, Germany.

 

 

 

Born Astoria, New York
Lives and works in New York City and Kent, CT

Education
B.A., College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
M.F.A., Catholic University of America, Washington, DC

Solo Exhibitions
2022 Songi: Sculpture, Drawings and Installation, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2020 Navigation: Sculpture and Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2019-20 Binomial: Claudia DeMonte and EdMcGowin, Lowe Art Museum, University of
  Miami, Coral Gables, FL, catalogue.
2018 A World View, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA
Memento Vivere: Sculpture and Installations, June Kelly Gallery, New York
PARTNERS: Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin, Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT
2017 Celebrating 30 Years: Group Show Gallery Artists Drawings and Photographs, June Kelly
  Gallery, New York
2016 Memory Keepers: Sculpture and Installations, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2014 Claudia DeMonte: La Forza del Destino, June Kelly Gallery, New York
A Woman’s Work is Never Done, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
Claudia De Monte, Cullis Wade Depot Art Gallery, Mississippi State University,
  Starkville, MS
2012 Abundance: Sculpture/Installation, June Kelly Gallery, New York
2011 Claudia DeMonte: Retrospective, Cora Miller Gallery, York College of Pennsylvania
Claudia DeMonte: Real Beauty, Cecille R. Hunt Gallery, Webster University, St. Louis,  MO
Self and the Everywoman: Mixed Media Works by Claudia DeMonte, Trustman Art Gallery,
  Simmons College, Boston, MA
CLAUDIA DEMONTE - OPERA di DONNA, Marsh Hall, University of Southern
  Mississippi Museum of Art, Hattiesburg, MS
2010 Claudia DeMonte, Nordstrand Gallery, Wayne State University, Wayne, NE
Real Beauty, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Real Beauty, Katzen Center for the Arts, American University, Washington, DC
Claudia DeMonte, Heffernan Gallery, West Valley Art Museum, Surprise, AZ
Claudia DeMonte: Mapping Beauty, Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, The University of
  Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL; traveling retrospective exhibition
The Luxury of Exercise: Small Sculpture and Works on Paper by Claudia DeMonte,
  Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
2009 Claudia DeMonte: The Luxury of Exercise, June Kelly Gallery, New York, monograph
  with an essay by Eleanor Heartney and foreword by Agnes Gund, Pomegranate
  Books
, San Francisco, CA
Claudia DeMonte and Ed McGowin, Jan Colle Gallery, Ghent, Belgium
Claudia DeMonte: Retrospective, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT
Everyday Matters, Flint Institute of Arts, MI
2008 Claudia DeMonte: Real Beauty, Kasser Family Exhibition, The Gottesman Libraries,
  Teachers College, Columbia University, New York
2007 Empowered Objects: New Sculpture, June Kelly Gallery, New York; catalogue
Claudia DeMonte: Mapping Beauty, Holzhauer Gallery, Mattie Kelly Fine and Performing
  Arts Center, Okaloosa-Walton College, Niceville, FL
Mapping Beauty: 3 decades of installations, Makan Gallery, Amman, Jordan; brochure
2006 A Couple of Litchfield County Artists, Silo Gallery, New Milford, CT
Claudia DeMonte: A Silhouette, Selected Works, 1976–2005, University of Maryland,
  College Park, MD; brochure
Claudia DeMonte, Women’s Art Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2005 Claudia DeMonte, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
Claudia DeMonte, Cole Pratt Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2004 Retrospective, Tallinn Kunstihoone, Tallinn, Estonia
Claudia DeMonte, Gerdunberg Cultural Center, Reykjavik, Iceland
Personal Journeys, Salem College, Winston Salem, NC
2003 Female Fetishes, International Museum of Women, San Francisco, CA
Claudia DeMonte, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL
Claudia DeMonte, Brenau University, Gainesville, GA
Claudia DeMonte, Cole Pratt Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2002 Claudia DeMonte, Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX
2001 Claudia DeMonte: New Work, Arguibel Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Female Fetishes, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
Claudia DeMonte: Retrospective, Rosemont College, PA
Female Fetishes, University of New England, Portland, ME
The Queen’s Dream: Site Specific, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY
2000 Claudia DeMonte Female Implements, Flint Institute of Art, MI; traveling exhibition; catalogue
1999 Female Fetishes, Gallery Liesbeth Lips, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1998 Claudia DeMonte: Retrospective, Chokladfabriken, Malmo, Sweden
Female Fetishes, Ambleside Gallery, Richmond, VA
l997 Female Fetishes, Genkan Gallery, Tokyo Japan
Female Implements, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Claudia DeMonte, Gateway Center, Prudential Plaza, Newark, NJ
1996 Domestique, Leedy Voulkos Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Female Implements: Serving Objects, Panorama Gallery, Winchester School of Art,
  Barcelona, Spain
1995 Housewives, Xochipilli Gallery, Birmingham, MI
1994 New Work, Barbara Gillman Gallery, Miami, FL
Significant Losses, The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Part, MD
1993 Female Fetishes, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1992 Objects of a Woman's Life, Jones/Troyer Fitzpatrick Gallery, Washington, DC
1991 Claudia DeMonte, Gallery 86, Lodz, Poland
1989 Claudia DeMonte/Ed McGowin, Falcon Gallery, Riyada, Saudi Arabia.
Shrines, Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York
1988 Amphora, Jones/Troyer Gallery, Washington, DC
1986 New Work: Two Installations, Xochipilli Gallery, Birmingham, MI
Windows, Grey Art Gallery, New York University
1985 Claudia at Home & Abroad, Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York; catalogue

Public and Corporate Collections
Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL
Boca Raton Museum of Art, FL
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
Grand Rapids Art Museum, MI
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT
Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN
Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, FL
Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul, MN
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
Mobile Museum of Art, AL
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Museum of South Texas, Edinburgh, TX
New Orleans Museum of Art, LA
Portland Art Museum, ME
Speed Museum, Louisville, KY
St. Louis University Art Museum, Sedalia, MO
The Patterson Museum, NJ
Queens Museum of Art, Flushing Meadows, NY
Stamford Museum and Nature Center, CT
Tucson Art Museum, AZ
Flint Institute of Art, MI
Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Center for the Fine Arts, Vero Beach, FL
Brenau University Galleries, Simmons Visual Arts Center, Gainesville, GA
Frederick S. Wright Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Yale Museum of Art, New Haven, CT
New School for Social Research, New York
St. Lawrence University, NY
Miami-Dade Community College, FL
Queensborough Community College, Bayside, NY
Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD
Contemporary Art Museum, Villa Rufolo, Ravello, Italy
Konin Museum, Poland
Museum Artystow, Lodz, Poland
Museum of Modern Art of Salerno, Italy
Sweenter Shoe Museum, Antwerp, Belgium
Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, Poland
University of Oldenburg, Germany
Siemens Company, West Germany
Bellevue Hospital, New York
Exxon Corporation, New York
J .P. Morgan/Chase, New York
Prudential Life Insurance, Parsippany, NJ

Curated Exhibitions
2004-07 Real Beauty: A Celebration of Diversity and Global Culture, 140 handmade dolls by women
  artists from around the world; touring exhibition, brochure
2000-07 Women of the World: A Global Collection of Art, works by women artists from 177 countries
  addressing the question, “What image depicts women?” traveled to 22 venues nationally
  and internationally, book published by Pomegranate, San Francisco, CA
1994 Significant Losses, curatorial consultant, The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College
  Park, MD
Collection of Jim & Danielle Sotet, University of Maryland, College Park, MD; catalogue
International Folk Art Exhibition, Sarlinger, co-curator, lender and essayist

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