Steven Montgomery was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan where he focused on both Ceramics and Printmaking. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Tyler School of Art of Temple University in Philadelphia where He studied with Italo Scanga and the porcelain innovator Rudolph Staffel. At Tyler he began my first forays into alternative approaches to low-fired, mixed media ceramic construction and the oil painted surface treatments that have been a signature of his work throughout my career.
He has have exhibited widely, with solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the US, Europe, and Asia.
He has received numerous awards including Fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts (’90, ‘2006, ‘2009), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (’99,’16), and awards for Ceramic Sculpture at international exhibitions in Korea (Gold Prize,’03) and Taiwan (Gold Prize,’04). I was a 2014 recipient of a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship working as an artist in residence at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
His work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC, the National Museum of Sweden in Stockholm, and numerous other public and private collections throughout the US and abroad. He lives and works in New York and Brooklyn and teaches at Hunter College in New York.
EDUCATION
1981 Master of Fine Arts, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
1979 Bachelor of Philosophy, Grand Valley State College, Allendale, MI
AWARDS
2016 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Artists Fellowship
2012 Smithsonian Artists Research Fellowship, National Air And Space Museum, Washington
2009 New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists Fellowship
2008 Merit Award, Ceramic Bienalle, Taipei County Yingge Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2004 Gold Prize, Ceramic Bienalle, Taipei County Yingge Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
2003 Gold Prize, Ceramic Bienalle, Icheon World Ceramic Center, South Korea;
2003 New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists Fellowship
1998 The Pollock Krasner Foundation, Artists Fellowship
1991 The 20th Ceramic National Exhibition, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
(Purchase Award)
1990 New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists Fellowship
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 All That Glitters Is Not, Duane Reed Gallery, St Louis, MO
2020 Susequent Archeologies, New York Foundation For The Arts, Brooklyn, New York
2015 Cobalt, And Other Elements, Thomas Hunter Project Space, Hunter College, New York, NY
2012 Forward Archaeologies, Pestasassi Stringa Mill, Nove, Italy, Curated by Zodo Gallery, Milan
2011 Cobalt, And Other Elements, OK Harris Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Cobalt, And Other Elements, Lon Hamaekers Gallery, Water Mill, NY
2011 Re-Entrance, New York Foundation for the Arts Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
2009 Fire, Icheon World Ceramic Center, Icheon, South Korea
2007 Broken, OK Harris Gallery, New York, NY, catalog available
2006 Broken, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO
2004 Artifact, OK Harris Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Damaged Mimesis, Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
2001 OK Harris Gallery, New York NY
2000 Long House Reserve, East Hampton, NY
1999 Dorothy Weiss Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 OK Harris Gallery, New York, NY
1998 Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
1996 OK Harris Gallery, New York, NY
1991 Garth Clark Gallery, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Out of Hand, Steven Montgomery & Ron Baron (Duel Show), Rosebud Contemporary, NY
True and Real, 2025 NCECA Annual, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, Utah, Curated by Judith S. Schwartz PHD
2024
The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
2023
Beauty and The Unexpected, National Museum of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden
Content/Craftsmanship, Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, MO
2022
Bling Bling? Musee de Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland
In Ruins, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia MO
Content/Craftsmanship, Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, MO
2021
Earthen Delights, (Two-Person) C24 Gallery, New York, NY
2020
Connections: Contemporary Craft at The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum,
Washington, DC
Cool Clay: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Ceramics, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Claytopian New York, Curated by Matt Nolen, Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY
2019
Vasa Vasorum, curated by Garth Clark, Gerald Peters Projects, Santa Fe, NM
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Art, Renwick Gallery, Washington D C
National Museum of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden
National Gallery of Art, Corcoran Collection, Washington, DC
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Art Museums of San Francisco, de Young, San Francisco, CA
Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI
Racine Museum of Art, Racine, WI
Icheon World Ceramic Center, Icheon, South Korea
Taipei County Yingge Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
Keramic Museum Westerwald, Westerwald, Germany
The Museum of Shigaraki Ceramics Art Center and Cultural Park, Shigaraki, Japan
National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan