At 13 years old she started attending the Artistic Association in Gipuzkoa where she coincided with Arantza Carecedo who would later help Idoia adjust when she moved to Bilbao in 1988 to enroll in the Academy of Fine Arts in the Universidad del País Vasco. The same year she attended the painting workshop of Bonifacio Alfonso in Arteleku in San Sebastián, In 1989 and from 1990 to 1991 she attended sculpture workshops given by Angel Bados also in Arteleku and from 1989 to 1990 Sculpture Practice in Fine Arts in Bilbao headed by Juan Luis Moraza. In 1990 she took part in a seminar headed by Guillermo Pérez Vilalta about “the art of imagining” in Bilbao Art , an entity who would later hand him over a space in 2001.
During this period Idoia recieved several grants and awards: Arteleku workshop grant (1988), Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa Grant for Sculpture (1990-1991), First prize in the XXXIII Certamen for young artists from Gipuzkoa, Juan de Otaola de Kultur Etxea de Basauri grant ( 1993) and Diputación Foral de Bizkaia grant (1993). Recently she was awarded the Eremuak programme grant to compile a volume of her works (2013).
She began exhibiting in 1988 in the Artistic Association in Gipuzkoa, San Sebastián where she showed in the following solo shows: Txuri-Beltz, San Sebastián (1991); La Fundición, Deusto (1991); Kultur Etxea, Basauri (1992); Museo de San Telmo, Donostia (1995); La acción del arte, Bilkin Art Gallery, Bilbao (2003); Retratos de la gente de Egia, Garraxi, San Sebastián (2004); Imágenes de la KM, Kasa de la Muntanya, Barcelona (2008); Imágenes urbanas, El Callejón, Donostia (2009); Partitura libre, Experimentem amb l’Art, Barcelona (2011), Un reflejo tangible, Halfhouse, Barcelona (2012); y La kasa del carpintero insurgente, Galería Alegría, Madrid (2014).
In addition to group exhibitions which stemmed from the workshops or grants and awards, some other exhibitions which stand out include: In 1991: GetxoArte Fair, Getxo; Galería Altxerri, Donostia; Aláez, Figari, Montón, Salaberría, Galería Juana de Aizpuru, Madrid; y Esculturas, Casa de Cultura, Eibar. In 1992: Hacer, la imagen, Galería Buades, Madrid; Basel Art Fair with Galería Buades; Entre el objeto y el arte, Galería Vanguardia, Bilbao; e Imagínate Euskadi, organised by the Banco Central Hispano in the three Basque capitals (repeated again in 1996). In 1993: IX L’Oréal Prize for Painting, Casa de Velázquez, Madrid; and 4 x 4, Casa de Cultura, Okendo. In 1994: Pandora’s Box, Kultur Etxea, Basauri. In 1995: 31artists in 3 museums, Musée Bonnat de Baiona, Musée de Guéthary y Museo de San Telmo, San Sebastián. In 1996: Charcutería, Galería Buades, Madrid; y La cicatriz interior, Sala Alcalà 31, Comunidad de Madrid. In 2001: [B.a.], Bilbao Arte; and El espejo. Alicia Martín/ Idoia Montón, Casa de Cultura, Ayuntamiento de Alcobendas. In 2003: Viaje al país de los vascos, Palacio Barrena, Ordizia y posteriormente in Pasaia (grafic work illustrating the book by Wilhelm von Humboldt published by Okupgraf); Supervivencia en el primer mundo, poster exhibition, Udal Aretoa and a year later in Palacio Aramburu, Tolosa. Also in 2004: Galería Sugar, San Sebastián; Arco’04, Madrid, with Galería Bilkin; and Sisif@s, Universidad del País Vasco, Leioa. And in 2006: Icónica, Museo Patio Herreriano, Valladolid.
Bibliography
Juan Antonio García Marcos, Asociación Artística de Guipúzcoa: 40 años de historia (1949-1989), San Sebastián : Asociación Artística de Guipúzcoa, 1989.
Ángel Bados, Escultura. Taller de Ángel Bados [Angel Bados en-Tailerra], San Sebastián, Arteleku, 1991 (exhibition catalogue).
Uztaro: Becas de creación artística 1987-1990 [Uztaro: Sorkuntza artistikorako bekak1987-1990], San Sebastián: Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia, 1991 (exhibition catalogue).
Idoia Montón, Basauri: Udal Kultur Etxea, 1992 (exhibition catalogue).
Maya Aguiriano, “Una visita al taller de Idoia Montón”, Zehar núm. 19. Arteleku, noviembre-diciembre 1992.
Ana Olaizola, La caja de Pandora [Pandoraren kaxa], Basauri: Casa Municipal de Cultura, 1994 (exhibition catalogue).
Maya Aguiriano, 31 artists en 3 museums [31 artista 3 museoetan] [31 artistes dans 3 musées], San Sebastián: Kultur Udal Patronatua, 1995.
Idoia Montón, Idoia Montón, Donostia: Kultur Udal Patronatua, 1995 (exhibition catalogue).
Pablo Llorca, La cicatriz interior, Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, 1996 (exhibition catalogue).
Xabier Sáenz de Gorbea, Beca Juan de Otaola y Pérez de Saracho 1990-2005, Basauri: Basauriko Udala / Kultur Basauri, 2006.
Javier Peñafiel / Rosa Queralt, Idoia Montón, San Sebastián: publication funded by Eremuak, 2014.