Meet Juanita Montgomery of Chattanooga

Today we’d like to introduce you to Juanita Montgomery.

Hi Juanita, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Art and my craft has always been within me. I can remember being a shy mute child who just loves to be left alone with a piece of paper and a pencil. That’s where it all started for me. Growing up in the foster care system I had encountered a lot at a young age so to release the things I felt I couldn’t say out loud, or that I was afraid to let come out. This showed up as countless sketches on paper, to murals on/in buildings, decorations on used fabric, to art in motion on runways, from little journal entries to spoken words. Going through school and having people look over my shoulder in church, people always told me that the things I could create with my hands and mind were truly a gift, a gift that felt like a curse. However, many failed to encourage me when it came to pursuing ART as a lifetime job. But because I knew who I was, and who’s I was, I started creating based on the things I saw and I’m not referring to the natural eyes. I eventually ended up dropping out of college on a full basketball scholarship in just my sophomore year to do what I really felt led to do. I told myself either you can run the race everybody before you ran, you know the 9-5’s, logical career, or you can say no and do what you know you NEED to do. It was then that I realized that doing what you’re called to is me doing what NEED’S to be done.

Making my entrance into the underground art scene in December 2017, with a live painting in the Chattanooga Diamond Ball Festival, I have built my brand, career, reputation, and relationships brick by brick. Following that act with indulging into the modeling world while being a canvas for artist and brands in Chattanooga. I have gained my keys through my dauntless nights working to build credit and a name in the underground niche appearing in a wide range artistic catalog, such as rap videos, to live art shows, YouTube videos, city art panels, city developing panels, to stepping out and curating my own viewings and underground puff & bible studies. Using my keys from the streets i have learned to combine it with the much needed keys from her relationship with God and spirituality. And when I started I haven’t looked back.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Want to talk about smooth roads? Nothing has ever came smoothly for me except creating. As a matter of fact there were times when life made it very clear to me that there are no main roads when it comes down to my craft. A lot of Entrepreneurs always tell the youth to follow their dreams follow the roads, but fail to also highlight when roads and life pushes us into deep waters, and digging through dunes, they fail to tell just how much it’s going to cost you. To be quite transparent to get to where I am today I had to learn to navigate trenches, and some of those trenches I didn’t have to leave my bed for the encounter. My trenches looked like facing a year in jail, doing free shows and free projects sometimes wondering/ knowing I didn’t have the money to make it back home, sleeping in cars, letting people that I thought would always run with me, go, spending my last on supplies.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I AM a Visual Artist, Poet, Muralist, Curator, Art Director, Model, Author, Fashion Designer, Graphic Designer, Mogul

And hitting on just a little bit of what I actually do.

#imgoingalltheway

It’s not just a brand it’s a lifestyle

This brand is about endurance, and learning to run onen(s) race. It is expressed in a variety of ways some being with words on a paper, paint on a canvas, an experession of thoughts out loud, a cluster of photos, designs on fashion, or a helping hand or ear. The brand is an advance on a different perspective from that of the norms or what’s deemed acceptable. We don’t fit in, we step up, and step into, whatever that may look like.

#Discombobulated (clothing)

Discombobulated is a brand that is about stepping into power with power. It screams NEXT in a monochromatic theme. It’s well before it’s time but it’s right on time. There’s a difference between the right time and the righteous time. This brand is righteous. This brand are for those of us who have had to walk a tightrope in life and that means not always fitting in, so this is working what you got, working what God gave you.
I dare anybody who purchases a piece to be bold and live in color, think outside the box. Discombobulated because it’s not really about what you wear, but WHO is wearing it, and Who shows up in it.

#TheGathering ( puff & bible study)

To gather in Hebrew means scattered seeds, and I believe that is exactly what we are. This project is bigger than me and was God given. This is God meeting those of us exactly where we are in life. To bring people to Christ I’m going to use the foolish things, and the weed is just an excuse to get people in the room. I hope that this gives young adults like me a vision, because without it you’re rendered useless and will turn to anything. The Gathering is about saving souls, and mirroring to the generations pervious that to reach this era you have to try a fresh new thing. I believe that this is the generation that is going to finish what unbelief started in the seasons before. Scattered seeds eventually gets buried and produces a harvest. You can fight your battles physically but if you ever have to choose between physical battles or spiritual battles, choose the spiritual where you know there’s backup.

I’m am known for my use of color and need for design when touching anything.
For being Bold, and being who I said I am.

I am most proud of how far I’ve come. I’m always jumping from project to project that sometimes I don’t actually acknowledge my growth.

Undoubtedly my spirit sets me apart from not only people but brands as well. I do what some won’t dare.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I have some things I am manifesting so I can’t speak on it, however I do want to say that the industry is always evolving and shape shifting with the waves so that within itself is relief. COVID really highlighted the fact that Art keeps the soul alive, and I was here for it.

I also want to say I AM something to SEE.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: Www.imgoingalltheway.org
• Instagram: HTTPS://www.Instagram.com/officiallyjuanita/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juanita.montgomery.1272