Last month, local artist Montana Black officially joined our Design and Development team. Meet the newest member of the Imagine family and get to know her in the Q&A below!

What’s your hometown?
I was born and raised in Las Vegas.

What is your official title?
Production Artist

What duties will you perform in your new job?
I am part of the Design and Development team and will help maintain the websites we manage as well as contribute to the design of social media posts, client collateral and anything else that supports the team leads.

Tell us about your background and previous experience.
I have a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Since graduating some 30 years ago, I have been creating and showing my work mainly in the Las Vegas area.

What motivated you to get into the visual arts?
I first began to consider a career in fine art after taking a tour of Europe in the summer of 1986. What I experienced on that trip blew my mind. It was immediate love at first sight when I saw the art and architecture. Upon my return home, I decided to change my major from an emphasis on the sciences to art. Before going to Europe, I had been studying plant biology with the intention of joining the National Park Service as a park ranger. But the art got into me and that was it. Bye, bye biology! Hello, art classes!

Have you received any awards/recognitions?
In 2018 my work appeared in a juried billboard exhibition by ArtPop Street Gallery. I was one of four artists chosen in the juried competition created by the City of Las Vegas and the Regional Transportation Center called “The Bus Stops Here,” which displayed my work on several bus shelters over a 12-month period from 2009 to 2010.

What’s your favorite type of food?
I love Mediterranean and Italian.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I volunteer with a local environmental group working to fight climate change. On my days off, I enjoy long walks around Tule Springs. Some of those walks have inspired artwork. I also really like driving to Boulder City for breakfast.

What’s your ideal vacation destination?
I would go to any national park in the desert Southwest or to visit my family in the Bay Area.

Which sports team do you root for?
The Chudley Cannons!