Artist Biography
Jammie Mountz was born in 1990 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her love of art started with her childhood fascination with animated TV shows and cartoons. Her favorite was Calvin and Hobbes - she loved the art even when the joke was a bit over her head.
Throughout middle school and high school, Jammie had a bustling internet business in the online communities of Gaia and Neopets: platforms where kids could create characters, play games, and participate in a virtual society. With a cheap Bamboo stylus and a pirated version of Photoshop, she drew portraits of gamer’s characters in exchange for virtual payment.
Into her adult years, Jammie began her formal art education with classes in college and local art schools. She began painting commissions for folks in all kinds of mediums: watercolor, oil, gauche, and acrylic, and has always enjoyed painting with the medium that best expresses what she wants to create. Then, in 2020, she found a true passion for capturing the favorite memories, family members, or pets of her friends and neighbors while seeking a genuine connection to her community through art.
In 2022, Jammie and her partner moved to Bailey, CO. She’s continually inspired by the rugged Rocky Mountains she’s blessed to be surrounded by every day. Here, she began learning wood working and started making her own pine picture frames. She also works with reclaimed barn wood and antique shop finds to create ready-to-hang framed paintings.
True to her comic book roots, Jammie uses humor in art to create niche t-shirts, stickers, and coffee mugs aimed at the absurdity of modern corporate culture, where she’s worked for over 10 years as a software engineer. She also finds inspiration in the opinionated foolishness of her three cats.
Whether it’s a humorous statement or a heart-felt portrait, art is Jammie’s love language and expression of gratitude for this crazy world we all live in.
Artist's Statement
I keep paint and brushes on my coffee table for guests. I encourage anyone who comes over to paint something. This is how I grew an archive of art from friends and family, over years, and over many different homes.
I also love painting for my community. I’ve painted landscapes of our beautiful neighborhood, I’ve painted kid’s faces at local events, and there’s a girl nearby who will grow up pulling toys out of a toy chest I painted with elk, moose, and bears.
Art is my way of connecting to people and places. Through art, I can be a part of so many other beautiful stories other than my own. I love being able to show people that I see what they see, and yes, it’s special.