Evangeline Juliet Montgomery (“E.J.”), artist and curator, passed away on May 1, 2025, at the age of 94.
Born on May 2, 1930, in New York City, and adopted by a Baptist minister and his homemaker wife, she discovered her love for art at the age of 14 with her first set of oil paints. Evangeline graduated from Seward Park High School in New York in 1949. As a teenager, she spent summers on the Island with her Coleman family, and worked at Hilliards Kitch-in-Vue Candy Shop and Rexall Drug Store on Circuit Avenue.
In 1955, she moved to Los Angeles with her husband, and worked for Thomas Usher, a groundbreaking African American jewelry designer. While in Los Angeles, she earned an A.A. from Los Angeles City College, and later a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts.
A pioneering curator, E.J. organized more than 150 exhibitions for museums, universities, and art centers. She served as the curator of the Rainbow Sign Gallery in Berkeley, and later worked for the American Association for State and Local History, and the Association of African American Museums. In Washington, D.C., she directed community affairs at WHMM-TV before joining the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Department of State, where she led international arts programming.
As a practicing artist, she worked in printmaking, metals, fiber, and photography. Her art is held in private and museum collections, including the Oakland Museum of California, the National Center for African American Artists and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital in Massachusetts, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. She exhibited widely across the U.S. in both solo and group shows.
E.J. is survived by her nieces, Jocelyn Coleman Walton, Marcia Coleman Joyner, and Gretchen Coleman-Thomas; and by a host of friends who will treasure her memory.
A celebration of life was held on May 2, in place of E.J.’s planned 95th birthday celebration. Her ashes were released on her beloved Martha’s Vineyard.