Island Artist Spotlight: Ryan Montgomery
Because of his job at Vons in Avalon, there probably aren’t many people on Catalina who are not familiar with Ryan Montgomery. The 37-year-old has worked for Vons for 14 years. And while he loves his job and the challenges it brings, what has been of most importance to him is the fact that it has allowed him to get to know everyone on the island he has called home since he was a teenager.
“I think for me it’s the people,” Ryan said of his favorite part of working at Vons. “When I first moved here I didn’t know one person, now I know the whole town.”
Ryan moved to Catalina around the age of 14 with his parents and younger brother. It was a big move for the Montgomery family because Ryan is on the autism spectrum, which has brought its share of challenges. But Ryan has managed to find his place in the communities he has lived in and Catalina was no exception. His mom Laurie said that despite his challenges, Ryan has always been outgoing and social.
“He talks a lot,” Laurie said. “He’ll just talk up a storm with complete strangers.”
Prior to working at Vons, Ryan worked as a pedicab driver, another job that allowed him to engage with visitors and people in the community, as well as at a native plant nursery. He has also volunteered for the Catalina Island Conservancy for years. But his true passion has been art, mostly drawing.
Ryan has been drawing as long as he can remember. His parents recall seeing his drawings showing a lot of detail by the age of about 4. On his website there is a picture of a construction backhoe that he drew around that age and the detail is impressive for a 4-year-old.
But Ryan’s passion for drawing, and interest in, shifted to big rig trucks. It seems to have started from the time he was a small child. A postal hub was behind their house in Hemet. Ryan would stand on the edge of a sandbox and pull himself up to look over the fence and watch the large postal trucks move in and out of the yard.
“If he stood on his tippy toes, he could look over the block wall,” his father Dave said.
His parents say he was fascinated by the big trucks from an early age. He began drawing big trucks and would later build them out of Lego blocks. But the trucks were more than just a creative influence, Ryan has also become an expert of sorts on the different types of trucks. He can talk about the differences between trucks by Mack, Kenworth, Peterbilt, etc. And the differences influence his art and Lego building.
“It came naturally to him because he was obsessed with trucks,” his mother Laurie said.
Moving to Catalina was a big step for the Montgomery family. Dave worked for Southern California Edison. When the opportunity came to transfer to Catalina, there were some concerns, particularly for Ryan, who was a teenager. The challenges he faced with Autism required attention in school and within the community. But after visiting the island, Ryan’s parents felt it would work. Laurie said she was very happy with the teachers at the school. As for other children, it turned out those concerns did not come to fruition. Ryan found his comfort zone almost immediately.
“The kids took to Ryan like crazy,” Laurie said.
Ironically, Ryan’s his younger brother Scott, took a little longer to find his niche, but eventually did. He too has remined on the island and now works as a harbor patrolman. Once on the island, the Montgomery family settled in well. Ryan enjoyed most of the common childhood activities and interests; a love of sports cars, swimming, cross-country and basketball. Basketball was his favorite. He played it in Special Olympic competitions. And he loved sports cards. Ryan collected a large batch of sports player cards and eventually he memorized the stats on the back of every players’ card.
Whenever a birthday came around for one of the boys, they got to choose an activity for the family to do to celebrate. Scott would choose a theme park, or a movie, or some other outing of entertainment. For Ryan, he would choose a trip to a truck stop to view trucks and talk with truck drivers. He ate up any information he could get out of truckers, who were more than happy to share their knowledge and show their trucks to an eager young Ryan.
The more he learned, the more he wanted to know. And the more he knew, the more detail he put into his drawings. His art became so intricate and detailed, that it began to get noticed. Workers at the Catalina Island quarry asked him to draw a backhoe to be printed on their orange safety shirts.
Ryan had not drawn much heavy construction equipment but was happy to give it a try. Soon, the team were wearing bright orange shirts with art by Ryan on them. He also began compiling drawing of his favorite trucks. Since many of them were more like sketches, the idea came about to make a coloring book.
Soon, Ryan’s Trucks coloring book was published and is now available on Amazon. The intricacy of the drawings would require a talented coloring artist but showcases the talent Ryan has for drawing. Over the years, Ryan has amassed a large collection of Lego bricks. Which he uses to build intricate trucks. Lego sells kits that can be built into different vehicle and buildings, but the trucks Ryan builds are built from scratch and have no building instructions. He simply starts from the ground up and finds a way to construct the vehicles, as well as making them color coordinated.
“I just kind of visualize everything in my head,” Ryan said.
He will keep the trucks for a while, but eventually he breaks them down and uses the pieces to build new trucks. And when he starts a new project it usually only a few hours. He usually completes them in one build session.
“Once I start something, I have to finish it,” Ryan said.
Prior to the Coronavirus shutdowns, Ryan hosted a weekly Lego club for kids on Wrigley Stage. He would bring tubs of Legos and kids would come around to build Legos. He’s hoping to bring that back when restrictions are relaxed enough.
But for now, Ryan is looking to maybe do another coloring book. He also said, lately, he’s been looking to possibly add trains to his drawings. That could mean some trips to train yards or stations. One of his favorite trips choices was to the large truck show in Louisville, Kentucky. Ryan got to view trucks of every kind and talk with all kinds of people who work in the trucking industry.
“It was just the coolest thing to ever experience,” Ryan said.
For more on Ryan visit ryanstrucks.com
