ARTIST STATEMENT

Much of Jerry Monteith’s practice involves collecting and preparing wood from local trees. When he began Core Series, the materials came from friends who had cut trees and offered me the wood. Now I have over 100 trees, many of which I planted, moved or started from seed. Several recent works were made with wood saved after pruning two pear trees 10 years ago. Jerry’s work functions like poetry, except it uses forms as well as words to evoke thoughts and feelings that lie deep and barely realized.

ARTIST BIO

Jerry Monteith taught sculpture and woodworking in the School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale from 1990 – 2021. He received his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1978 and a BFA from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1975. His mixed media installations and works in wood have been widely exhibited, with images and reviews in Sculpture Magazine and the former monthly New Art Examiner. His large-scale interactive works have been included in numerous sculpture tours and exhibitions.