Artist Grace Monge brings global influences, experience to Colorado

Creative Denverite draws on Mexican culture, Rocky Mountain landscapes and world travels

Story by Tiffany Thompson / Photos by Ethan McQueen

Artist Grace Monge’s jewelry gently jingles as she walks through her downtown Denver apartment. Evidence of a creative and restless mind is everywhere. 

Inspiration can spring up from anywhere and is sometimes unexpected, she says, describing a recent occasion when she was watching TV with her husband. “I often get my canvases from thrift stores and garage sales and paint over them, because getting them fresh can get pretty expensive,” Monge explains. “Anyway, I had gotten this giant canvas on one of my trips and I was thinking about what I wanted to do with it. And my husband asks what I’m thinking about, and I say ‘cows.’ So I painted cows. It came out really nice, and it sold right away at First Friday (Art Walk in Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe).”

Her apartment indeed serves as proof of a mind that never stops working. The walls, shelves and parts of the floor feature works that showcase her range of artistry. This includes oil paintings that incorporate found objects to the welded brass statue of a woman, with her back situated in front of a mirror that illustrates the full detail of the piece. 

Her studio is a small, converted bedroom in the back of the apartment. However, the size of the space does nothing to hinder the explosion of creativity seen when stepping inside. There are canvases in different stages of completion and various art supplies in different holders and carriers. A detail-oriented person is working her way through the chaotic bombardment of ideas running through her head. But it is a good, functional chaos.

As she tells stories of her life and travels, it becomes clear that all of this comes from a lifetime of vivid experiences. Born and raised in Mexico City, she spent a lot of time in her early childhood traveling the country with her parents. As a youngster, she recalls being drawn to the creative, making figures out of plasticine at age 3, experimenting with oil paint when she was six, and completing her first formal canvas when she was 17. Along the way, she was experiencing various Mexican cultures, which in turn fed into her career as an artist.

“Since I was little, I was able to appreciate the music, the food, the different types of things people do,” Monge says. “It’s really a very diverse culture, very vibrant and rich. I remember traveling with my parents to Oaxaca, and seeing Muxes.” Muxes are a third-gender culture in Oaxaca. “They have a spiritual element to them. I remember seeing them and it made me realize the differences that different places can have. I think it made me not judgmental,” Monge says. 

Monge’s early exposure to the variety the world has to offer is reflected in her work. What she wants to create and what she plans to do is ever changing, and inspiration can come from something she may just stumble upon. She talks of times where she will find something like a scrap of leather on the side of a road, pick it up, and incorporate it into a piece. “As artists, we just see what other people don’t. I wouldn’t say we are more gifted than the rest of the world; other people have other gifts, but we can see the possibilities,” she adds. 

Later, Monge’s thirst for experience and art led her to the Centro Linguistico Italiano Dante Alighieri, an institute in Rome dedicated to teaching foreigners Italian language and history, including art history. “I lived there for a year, studying Italian and art, and it made me realize, art has been in our lives forever. It’s everywhere,” she says. “And since then, I find a little bit of inspiration everywhere I go. I’ve been to New Mexico, other parts of the U.S., Europe, all over Mexico, Turkey. I get a little bit of influence everywhere I go.”

Seeing the world is not the only aspect that feeds into Monge’s artistic process. Her expressions of her own femininity and spirituality also are important parts of her work, and a reflection of her inner sense of self.

“Growing up we were all girls – my sisters and I – and we were very pampered,” Monge remembers. “I have a picture of us taking first communion, and you wear the little hats and little things. We were brought up very girly, and so I’m very feminine. I like that about me.” 

Femininity is a strong feature in Monge’s work. Many of the paintings around her apartment show portraits of women from different angles, showing the duality of strength and vulnerability.

“I feel my spirituality is something that comes through in my work as well,” she says. “I was raised Catholic, I still am. I know that people have done horrible things in the name of religion, but I believe that is their own thing with God. I have my own relationship with him,” Monge says, as she holds up a circular piece made with found objects, the center of which features an image of the Virgin Mary. 

Though she continues to travel and find inspiration everywhere she goes, her residence for much of the year remains in Colorado. Like all other places she’s been, she finds things here that strongly influence her work. “It’s the nature here, but it’s specific,” she points out. “It’s the aspen trees. They have beautiful bark, the way it breaks and it’s black and white. But they’re not just black and white, they have beautiful colors as well when the leaves come in. They have all kinds of beautiful colors that we artists can use. It makes us aware so we can make others aware.”

Her work has been featured in galleries across Colorado, including a Dias de los Muertos show at the Armory in Brighton, Grace Gallery on Sante Fe Drive, the CHAC gallery, as well as the Art Contained del Sol in Denver. To reach Monge for commissions and inquiries, send a direct message to her Instagram or send an email to info.viplanguage@gmail.com (yes, she knows it’s an odd email).

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