Monty Little

PROJECT STATEMENT

The DEMIL Art Fund will support the planning and creating a new installation project based on the Navajo reservation. I am looking forward to utilizing funds to purchase new materials and organize finances for travel. The project will include documenting landscapes with still and moving images surrounding western portion of the Navajo reservation. Landforms in specific locations are imperative to my current work because they hold sacred stories, which is a major component to the continuation of culture and heritage. Once I have documented several days of images, they will be transformed into large-scale works as part of an installation. I am looking to develop an agenda so I can keep track of my progress, create deadlines alongside edits, and then begin the creating process. I foresee this project to take about two years to complete.

BIO

Monty Little enlisted in the Marine Corps as a Rifleman in 2004 where he was stationed with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines and served as a fireteam leader, overseeing three Marines in a squad, while deployed in Iraq. In 2008, Little was Honorably Discharged from the Marine Corps. Following his service, Little graduated in 2015 from the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico with a focus in Creative Writing and Studio Arts. After, he was awarded the nationally recognized Tulsa Artist Fellowship. Little was later selected as an artist-in-residence at IAIA in 2018 and the Vermont Studio Center in 2019. His works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Chicago and the Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts in California. He is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s printmaking department. Little works and lives in Madison with his spouse and daughter.