Strands of Genius: Superbowl Art, Interactive Street Art, Origin of Wings

Guest curated by Kelsey Montague

Sep 02, 2021

:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, KELSEY MONTAGUE ::

LOCATION: Denver, CO
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Freelance-ish

Hello Genius Folks!

I met Rosie when I worked at Saatchi & Saatchi in NYC many moons ago. I remember loving her pink hair and her confidence in an agency setting (that was my first and last agency job).

Working at Saatchi it took me a second but I eventually realized that a project management role for a creative is a lot like listening to someone’s nails screech across a blackboard over and over – all day long. I left and started my own company – Kelsey Montague Art with my sister Courtney.

We create large-scale interactive art installations around the world. The focus really is on keeping art easily accessible and available on the streets of cities, big and small, worldwide and creating opportunities for people to become ‘living works of art’ themselves. Each piece represents the city it is in (typically through smaller community specific images hidden in the design) and isn’t ‘complete’ until a human is inside it. People naturally understand these murals are for them when they stumble across them and immediately take photos and share on social media. We pioneered the hashtag #WhatLiftsYou to encourage folks, when they post, to consider what is most important to them in their lives… what lifts them up.

To date over 200,000 people have stood with my pieces in spots around the world. If you’re ever having a bad day stop by the hashtag on Instagram and read some of the posts. Seeing people as living works of art in their creative photos with my work is amazing, reading their stories in their captions is exceptional. This work I get to do is a privilege.

Editor’s Note (Rosie): Kelsey and I worked together at Saatchi & Saatchi years and years ago. I remember when she first started exploring adult coloring books (way before it was a thing, y'all) and seeing her post about her first wings installation on Instagram back in 2014. These days, you'll find them around the world -- We've spotted them everywhere from Nashville, TN in the USA to Buenos Aires to Ponsonby in Auckland, NZ -- along with the hashtag #WhatLiftsYou, inviting people to take part in the art. OH, AND... She works with her sister! Honestly, I don't know what's cooler: being a street mural artist or getting to work with your sister. I'm so jealous, Kelsey! But also, so thankful you took the time to share some links today. Appreciate you, and can't wait to run into you or your wings somewhere else!

:: THE LINKS ::

SUPERBOWL ART

Right before the world shut down my biggest project was with the NFL. The NFL really wanted to honor the street art legacy in Miami and chose 5 artists to do this. I was chosen, and I was the only woman. All of our work was tied into football, of course, but I love it when brands really take a step back and figure out real/organic ways to highlight the cities they work within. (The New York Times)

INTERACTIVE STREET ART

A few years back a reporter from The Today Show, Joelle Garguilo, reached out to us about doing a story on my work. My business partner Courtney and I believe strongly in developing real relationships with our clients, our contractors and press. So we found the coolest project we had coming up (the side of a building in NYC) and pitched having her join us as we created the piece. She loved it, and we’ve since become friends with this awesome lady (who just recently did another piece on my work at The World Trade Center). We’ve got another friend who free-lances for USA Today and Forbes and we took her with us to Peru for a project we were doing with the nonprofit Peruvian Hearts. We’ve also worked with her on a number of other stories since that one. So that is something we really recommend doing. When you find these stellar, talented folks give them the absolute best you’ve got. Make their reporting lives as easy as possible! Give them the best scoops and, more importantly, just be good friends/humans to folks. (Today)

ORIGIN OF WINGS

My business partner and sister Courtney wrote this piece I love about where the wings really came from. It wasn’t until after I did my first winged piece that I put together that I grew up in my grandfather’s watercolor studio looking for the bird he hid in each painting. To him a bird represented spirituality, so he always included one. Before I did my winged piece in NY I had a really spiritual experience and I know my grandpa was/is looking down on what his grandchildren are doing and smiling. Those wings also immediately struck Taylor Swift, who stood with them just a week after they went up (another amazing lady I’ve had the pleasure to work with again). I’d be lying if I didn’t see the divine in the ‘lucky’ breaks and absolutely amazing things that have happened in my life. (Kelsey Montague)

Looking for more from Kelsey Montague? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from her in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.

:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::

:: Game :: Gin Rummy

:: City :: New Orleans

:: Book :: Dune

:: Podcast :: Dolly Parton's America

:: Album :: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

:: #WHATLIFTSYOU ::

Kelsey Montague

Artist

kelsey@kelseymontagueart.com

website | facebook | instagram

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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.

Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.

Hit reply and let’s talk about how we might be able to work together :)

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