After five semesters of studying Architecture at Arizona State University, Monty Little enlisted in the Marine Corps as a Rifleman in 2004. Within his enlistment, Little was stationed with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines where he deployed with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to various countries in Southeast Asia in 2006, and to Ar Ramadi, Iraq in 2007. Little served as a fireteam leader, overseeing three Marines in a squad, while deployed in Iraq for a little over seven months. In 2008, Little was Honorably Discharged from the Marine Corps.
Following his service, Little graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Creative Writing and Studio Arts. It was here; he began to feel the urge to translate his thoughts on his experience of war and post-war. Little wrote extensively on his encounters of conflict and commenced an unfolding of his deployments. Much of his writing initiated surreal images; thus, wanting to visually relay those images, Little began to paint and print what he wrote, using each medium as erasure, where unsettling truths reveal personal components and texture is integral, yet disruptive to find his past chaotic.
EDUCATION
2015 Institute of American Indian Arts; Santa Fe, New Mexico
BFA: Creative Writing in Poetry
BFA: Studio Arts in Printmaking & Painting
PAST EXHIBITIONS
2017 "Own Mind" and "Alpha" on display; New Acquisitions: 2011 - 2017; Museum of Contemporary Native Arts; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Neo-Native: Connecting Past to Present; Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts; Alta Loma, California
Catch-22: Paradox on Paper; Ralph T. Coe Foundation; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Creative Nation II, Ellsworth Gallery; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Petrichor; FaranHNHeight Fine Art; Taos, New Mexico
Displacement; The Living Arts of Tulsa; Tulsa, Oklahoma
2016 Syncretic: The Tulsa Artist Fellowship; 108 Contemporary; Tulsa, Oklahoma
"Notos 01" and "Notos 02" Selected to show in Beyond the Plaza: Indian Market at the Institute; Encaustic Art Institute; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Painting: "Gravitas 002" in exhibition; Fathoms, Radical Abacus; Santa Fe, New Mexico
2015 SITE Scholar Exhibition, painting “Figures Disfigure a Calm Memory” on display; SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico
Paintings: “When the Day is Right” and “Carousel” on display; Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Reciprocus; Alan Houser Haozous Gallery, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Painting: “Laying It to Rest” on display; Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
“When the Day is Right” and “Carousel” displayed February-December 2015; True West Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2014 IAIA Blood Quantum Drive: Making Relatives; Axle Contemporary; Santa Fe, New Mexico
“Forgotten Meaning Of” and “Study for Laying It to Rest” selected for Art in the Raw; Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Imago Mundi Native Art Project; Fondazione Benetton Studi E Ricerche; Treviso, Italy
Bombs, Birds & Buffaloes; Eggman & Walrus Art Emporium; Santa Fe, New Mexico
“Discontent” selected for Annual Spring Art Show; Red Dot Gallery; Santa Fe, New Mexico
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
2018 Tulsa Artist Fellowship, January-December 2018; Tulsa, Oklahoma
2017 1st Place, Classification III, Division D, "003"; Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, 2017 Indian Market Art Competition; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Honorable Mention, Classification III, Division D, "Contingency Combs Memory IV"; Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, 2017 Indian Market Art Competition; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tulsa Artist Fellowship, January-December 2017; Tulsa, Oklahoma
2016 Tulsa Artist Fellowship, January-December 2016; Tulsa, Oklahoma
2015 Recipient of SITE Scholar Program; SITE Santa Fe; Santa Fe, New Mexico
IAIA Distinguished Alumni Award, “Unaccompanied Voices”; Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, 2015 Indian Market Art Competition; Santa Fe, New Mexico
2nd Place, Classification III, Division D, “Usurp Series: Carlton 2”; Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, 2015 Indian Market Art Competition; Santa Fe, New Mexico
1st Place Painting: “Proximal”; 2015 IAIA Student Art Competition; Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery; Santa Fe, New Mexico
1st Place Mixed Media: “The Struggle Within”; 2015 IAIA Student Art Competition; Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery; Santa Fe, New Mexico
1st Place Printmaking: “Somewhere Between Nowhere”; 2015 IAIA Student Art Competition; Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery; Santa Fe, New Mexico
2014 Nominated for SITE Scholar Program; SITE Santa Fe; Santa Fe, New Mexico
Private Collection: selected paintings: “Mourning the Silence” and “Figures in the Distance” for Pojoaque Pueblo Governor George Rivera; Pojoaque, New Mexico
1st Place Printmaking: “Usurp Series: Samuel Beckett”; 2014 American Indian Higher Education Consortium; Billings, Montana
1st Place Drawing: “Untitled”; 2014 American Indian Higher Education Consortium; Billings, Montana
Top 3 Finalist for Tribal College Journal Student Writing Contest in Poetry for “To Erase A Whisper”; 2014 American Indian Higher Education Consortium; Billings, Montana
REVIEWS & PUBLICATIONS
'Power of Transformation: Exhibition of works by Diné artist Monty Little set to open at FaraHNHeight Fine Art'. Testerman, Tamra. The Taos News. 8 September 2017, print.
'Artist Monty Little finds the surreal in war, peace'. Watts, James D.. Tulsa World. 8 January 2017, print.
'Displacement: Monty Little'. Montgomery, Renee. Art Focus Oklahoma Magazine. Winter 2017, print.
'Faces on the Wall: Monty Little Considers Portraits, Displacement, and PTSD'. Blood, Liz. The Tulsa Voice. November 2016, print.
'Double Vision: Writer and Artist Monty Little'. Abatemarco, Michael. Santa Fe New Mexican Pasatiempo. 21 August 2015, print.
'The Renga Project'. Axle Contemporary. June 2013 – July 2014; Santa Fe, New Mexico