“Box Art . . . Creative Cardboard Constructions by Jessie Montes” opens at the Coutts Museum of Art, 110 N. Main St., El Dorado, Kansas on November 6.  The evening of the 6th the public is invited to a special reception that evening from 6 – 8 p.m.  Duane West, agent for Jessie Montes, will present an art talk about the artist and his work at 7 p.m.

• The exhibit will be on display at the Coutts through December 18.
• Jessie M. Montes is one of twenty-five children, and the sole survivor of five sets of twins.
• The self-taught artist, who now lives in El Paso, Texas, is a native of Mexico, and has been a naturalized citizen since 1972.
• In 1990, to free his mind from worry about two of his children being involved in the Gulf war, he began making frames for photographs out of corrugated paperboard, commonly called cardboard. Then he began to fill in the frames with landscapes, designs and portraits. Three dimensional sculptures came soon thereafter.
• Jessie’s three dimensional pieces are made totally of “cardboard”, but sometimes have the appearance of wood. They vary from small plaques of unusual designs to free-standing pieces of various dimensions up to six feet tall.
• Montes was featured in the December 2000 issue of Art & Antiques Magazine as one of 5 Exciting Modern Artists “who are gaining notice for their instinctive understanding of the expressive power of skillful technique and materials that become magically transformed.”
• Raw Vision, a London based magazine devoted to self-taught artists, contained a four page article on Montes and his art in the Fall 2004 issue. In November 2002, the Beach Art Museum at Kansas State University in Manhattan bought a Montes sculpture for its permanent collection, a first for the artist. The Coutts Museum also has a piece of Jessie’s work in its permanent collection.
• Jessie’s early desire for his art was to create something from nothing. He chose corrugated paperboard because so much of it was going to waste. Using discarded boxes was his way of recycling a product that otherwise would go into the landfill, adding to our environmental problems.
• Coutts Museum hours are: Monday through Friday, 1 to 5 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday noon to 4 p.m.