About Dawn Inglis Montgomery
Artist Biography
Dawn Inglis Montgomery is a fine art painter living and working in Jacksonville, Florida. She brings a regionalism to her work focusing on southeastern manufacturing industries and the skilled laborer behind the scenes. Highlighting the overlooked and hidden corners that many pass by, her paintings juxtapose resilience and decay, nature and industry, to find beauty. Montgomery took drawing and painting courses while studying architecture and city planning at the University of Virginia. Completing her master's degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology, she worked for seven years in the city planning field. Informed by this background, she is drawn to strong perspective lines found in the urban and natural landscape. The workers and architecture of her family’s century-old manufacturing business located in the historic Springfield neighborhood of Jacksonville are her sources of inspiration.
In 2025 she was a recipient of an Art Ventures Grant from The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida. Her paintings have been shown at ArtFields, the Cummer Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, the Jacksonville International Airport, the University of Southern Mississippi Art Museum, the LaGrange Art Museum, the Lamar Dodd Art Center, Florida State College at Jacksonville, the University of North Florida, Valdosta State University, Northwest Florida State College, Ritz Theatre and Museum Jacksonville, Martin Arts, and the Fort Myers Alliance for the Arts.
Artist Statement
Dawn is inspired by George Bellows, Edward Hopper and the American Realism Movement depicting the lives and everyday activities of ordinary people. The contrast between the geometric shapes of industrial equipment and the organic shapes of nature draws us to think about the permanence of what we create. The artifacts of our lives show where we placed value. Rusting metal points to the transient nature of the stuff we collect. It also reminds us that enduring value is found in the relationships we build. The passing of knowledge from one generation to the next provides guidance and support giving us a sense of value and purpose.