India Montgomery is the founder of The Dot Project, a rotating exhibition program and art advisory firm focused on showcasing up-and-coming contemporary artists.
This year, The Dot Project has teamed up with HeritageXplore — a platform for British stately houses — to launch an immersive artist-in-residence program, teaming international creators with different heritage homes across the country. Each artist calls the property home for the duration of the residency; the resulting work draws out oft-forgotten stories from historic spaces.
What does a normal day look like for you?
Every day looks different. This week, I’m driving back and forth from London to Essex to be at Kelvedon Hall, installing a show. Next week, I’m driving to Elveden Hall every day. The following week, I’ll be at Belvoir Castle, where we’ll be settling in our third artist-in-residence program, and then after that, I’ll be heading up to Scotland.
How did you get into the art world?
I studied History at Leeds University, then did an architectural diploma in London. Afterwards, I was working between London and New York for various interior designers. I was sourcing a lot of art but found that we were leaving this until the last minute. I knew it wasn’t right to have art as an afterthought – it should be the starting point for a home.
I felt there was space for me to open a gallery, and I had a vision of connecting emerging artists with younger collectors. I was naive and I went for it. It was hard — I was building my audience space and my artist space at the same time, which involved a lot of trust and patience. I wonder if I’d have known what those first years would be like, would I have dived in like I did, but I’m very glad I did.
Are there any particular trends in the collectors market right now?
There are trends, but I love our clients to focus on the feeling that art gives them. The pace the whole world moves at now doesn’t suit the art market: It means a painting’s value might go up really quickly, but it also could come down really quickly. What’s important to me is that these artists become the artists of tomorrow, and they stand the test of time. The only way for that to happen is for clients to buy pieces because they make them feel a certain way, rather than feeling as if they are buying into a trend.
What advice would you give someone who’s beginning their art collection?
It takes time and patience. I tell clients to spend time going to museums, going to heritage houses, looking through Instagram. Save the things that catch your eye, and then revisit them over the course of a couple of months. Are the things that you loved still sticking with you? Keep those images and delete the one you only liked ‘cause of exterior noise. You can’t go wrong when you’re trusting your instinct — it’s how I’ve run the business over the last year. I’ve not stuck to the rules a lot of the time, but I’ve stuck to my instinct.
What rules have you broken in your career?
Not having a permanent space. There used to be a stigma around selling anything without a client seeing it in person and pre-2020 you had to have a permanent space. But with rising costs, that felt untenable. Covid felt like a defining moment — people couldn’t visit galleries, people couldn’t see artwork. It forced my hand and we changed tack. After lockdown, there were lots of interesting spaces around London left empty, so I saw the opportunity to use the spaces as galleries. We started doing nomadic exhibitions and at the start, people thought I was crazy, but it’s worked.
What was the main objective for the current Heritage Xplore partnership?
Creating the culture of tomorrow within the setting of the culture of yesterday. We did an exhibition last summer in London at 14 Cavendish, which is an old Heritage House, and that showed how wonderful these spaces are as a backdrop for contemporary artworks. I’d known Violet Manners, the founder of Heritage Xplore, for a long time and she took the artist residency idea to a number of the houses and they were really receptive. It all came together pretty organically. At the end of each residency, the artist donates a piece of art to the property. These houses will outlive us all and in a hundred years, a moment in time from each residency will still exist here.
Tell me about the current residency.
Heath Wae and Tais Rose are from Australia — Byron Bay — and they traveled to the UK for the first time with their two sons to live in Kelvedon Hall. The custodian was not there for the duration, so the family was really living here, cooking here, sleeping here, looking after their children here. When you see their body of work compared to what they did previously, you can see the footprint of Kelvedon so strongly. What they have created is phenomenal.
How did you pair artists with houses?
It was about understanding the different artists and different houses have to offer. Kelvedon is a family home, so it felt like the perfect place for a family to be in residence. With Jack [Penny], Elveden Hall just felt like it encompassed him as a person and a painter. It was a no brainer. The same with Nick [Jensen] and Sebastián [Espejo] — their personalities just fitted with the stories of the houses. It was a bit of a process figuring it out but it was a really exciting puzzle.
What’s the prize piece in your personal collection?
I’ve tried to keep a piece from most exhibitions; in fact, my whole collection is from artists that we’ve shown. We had a show featuring Rose Wylie and I acquired that work. Judith Bernstein was in the same show, and my mum acquired that work. They’re two phenomenal female artists and I’m really proud that the Dot Project was able to show them. I feel sentimental about all the art I own. When I walk around my house, I’m reminded of moments over the last 10 years, some of them positive, others stressful.
What’s one piece you would love to own?
The Courtship by Gertrude Abercrombie. Its ability to discuss the complexities of relationships and marriage and love with such a simple scene and color palette is very special.
What’s your favorite hotel in the world?
Before we had children, we went to Brazil and stayed in Villa Santa Teresa. It’s on the top of one of the mountains, looking down into Rio. If I close my eyes, I can still see the views of the city.
What do you consider the perfect vacation?
My husband and I vacation very similarly and we like to move every three to four days. My ideal vacation would not be sitting in one hotel for two weeks on a beach. We love jumping in the car, driving somewhere and exploring every day.
What is your travel must-have?
My family… and my hairbrush!
