Kelsey Montague is a street artist whose work went viral when Taylor Swift posed in front of her angel wing mural in New York’s Nolita neighborhood. For the past two years, Montague has been traveling the world creating large-scale, interactive murals. The hashtag shared below most of her murals, #WhatLiftsYou has tens of thousands of posts of Instagram, of people sharing themselves interacting with her art.
“I had an awesome opportunity to paint my first large-scale street art piece on a rotating art wall in Nolita,” Kelsey Montague said. “I wanted to create a piece that meant a lot to me, but that also allowed other people to become living pieces of art.
"The piece was up a week when Taylor Swift drove by and told her publicist to stop so she could take a picture with the piece. She posted it to her Instagram and the piece immediately went viral online. People were standing in a line down the street to get a picture with the wings. I’ve been creating winged and other interactive murals since then around the world with my sister, best friend and business partner Courtney."
Montague has also completed two adult coloring books, published by HarperCollins, and a limited edition jacket with Gap & Red.
Montague grew up in a family of artists, her mom is a watercolorist and her grandpa was a painter and jewelry maker.
“Whenever my grandpa created a piece he would include a bird in the painting, to him birds represented something very spiritual,” Montague said. “I grew up trying to find those birds in each painting. When I had the opportunity to create my first large-scale street art piece I immediately knew I wanted it to be interactive wings. It was only later that I realized the connection to my grandfather’s art.”
Montague described herself has being an artist her whole life, studying art in Florence, then attended Richmond American University in London, where she received American and British degrees in Art, Design and Media. But it was Taylor Swift’s post that was the most pivotal moment of her career.
“She put me on the map in the field of street art, public art and interactive art,” Montague said. “It was also so inspirational and encouraging to have an artist of her stature recognize me so publicly. Street art is largely a male domain and I was determined to show that not only could a female enter the arena but could also succeed.”
The feedback that Montague has received from people interacting with her work has been an ongoing source of inspiration for her.
“I wanted to provide people with a brief escape,” Montague said. “I wanted them to step into a piece, become a living work of art and then reflect on what is most important in life. I lived in New York City for some time and the city can beat you down, just as life can no matter where you live. I really want my work to take people above it all and to encourage them to think about what really matters in their life. An unexpected benefit was how much the visitors to my artwork have lifted me.”
Montague has big plans for 2017, from launching a new hashtag to painting several new murals across the world.
“I’m launching a new hashtag called #WhatUnitesUs on January 21st in Denver,” Montague said. “Each mural I do within this campaign will be interactive but will also tie into the idea that we should be celebrating our similarities, instead of fighting about our differences. I'm also working on an interactive app, the launch of my first coloring book room at The Smithsonian and a number of large scale murals already set for India, South Africa, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco for this Spring.”
All images courtesy of Kelsey Montague
