Medium
Built Across Materials
Charcoal, graphite, acrylic, watercolor, and water-mixable oils give Duane a wide visual vocabulary for every story.
Friends of the Lakes Club Artist
Flint, Michigan
Duane “DJ” Montney, Jr.
Multi-Medium Artist · Storyteller · Advocate
Atmospheric portraiture and narrative work created to hold attention, tell the truth, and give visual form to issues too often ignored.
Explore the work
Flint, Michigan
Multi-Medium Artist · Storyteller · Advocate
01
Art With
A Voice
Duane “DJ” Montney, Jr. is a Flint, Michigan-based multi-medium artist working in charcoal, graphite, acrylic, watercolor, and water-mixable oils.
His work combines atmospheric portraiture and narrative storytelling with artistic advocacy for juvenile lifers alongside organizations such as the University of Michigan’s Prison Creative Arts Project, Linkage Community, and Let’s Get Free.
Montney’s art has been showcased internationally, including exhibitions at the Flint Institute of Arts for Beyond Survival, in Coventry, England for We Bear, and at the United Nations Earth Day exhibition in San Francisco.
Through Great Lakes Pulse, Montney brings his creativity and advocacy together to create distinctive work that can also illuminate the issues threatening the Great Lakes.
“The work can be visually compelling, deeply human, and informative at the same time.”
02
Atmosphere, identity, and narrative
Portraiture that asks the viewer to stay.
Duane’s work uses expression, light, texture, and story to create images that feel immediate while carrying a larger social and emotional meaning.
03
Practice & Impact
A multi-medium practice shaped by portraiture, advocacy, collaboration, and the belief that art can make difficult truths visible.
Story
Atmospheric Portraiture
His portraits use mood and detail to bring viewers close to the people and experiences at the center of the work.
Advocacy
Art for Juvenile Lifers
His creative advocacy has connected him with organizations working to amplify the voices and humanity of people sentenced as youth.
Great Lakes
Informative Art for the Region
Duane plans to create engaging work that helps make the threats facing the Great Lakes more visible and understandable.
04
Exhibited Beyond Borders
Flint Institute of Arts
Beyond Survival
International Exhibition
We Bear
United Nations Earth Day Exhibition
International environmental exhibition
05
Selected Work
A selection of Duane’s portraiture, narrative work, and multi-medium practice.
