Completed in 2024, Keith House is home to a skyspace<\/a> from famed American artist James Turrell, who has completed over 100 light installations worldwide. A skyspace is an engineered room with a central opening in the roof and a light sequence that moves in tandem with natural light as the sun\u2019s position shifts.\u00a0<\/p>\n Montgomery\u2019s daily walks soon will come to an end, as she prepares to retire from her role at the end of June.\u00a0<\/p>\n The director said she took the job knowing she had \u201cthree to four years to give\u201d before retiring. Now, she\u2019s stepping away knowing the space is in a good place.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really proud of where we\u2019ve gotten in the amount of time that Keith House has opened and I\u2019m super excited to see what the next generation of leadership is going to do with it,\u201d Montgomery said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation, which funded Keith House and commissioned the art, has begun its search for a new director.\u00a0<\/p>\n Board chair Adelaide Bratten Leavens said Montgomery played an \u201cessential role\u201d in bringing the space to life.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHer leadership has helped establish Keith House as a place of beauty, reflection, and community,\u201d she wrote on social media<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Keith House was announced in 2022 as \u201ca gift to the entire community\u201d in memory of Bratten, who the foundation is named after.\u00a0<\/p>\n Montgomery said she was approached to contribute to the venue\u2019s business plan and initially hesitated to jump onboard since she wanted to retire after serving as an art historian and curatorial assistant at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n But once she heard about Turrell\u2019s involvement in the project, she was all in, Montgomery said with a laugh. She already admired the artist\u2019s installations and his interpretation of how the human eye perceives and understands light<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the building was completed, and it was time to start implementing our vision, that\u2019s when I made the decision to become fully committed to do another period as a director,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In its infancy, Keith House built a reputation for its skyspace viewings<\/a>, intimate musical performances, meditation groups and lectures, Montgomery said. The space expanded to a staff of three supported by more than 50 volunteers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to bring in a wide variety of different practices and experiences that have generated their own energy waves that are bringing new faces into the space,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The founding director described her tenure in three words: terrifying, rewarding and a privilege.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhy terrifying? It\u2019s a big responsibility to build out the team, build out the program and fill the space with people, light and energy,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cIt felt like power that I wasn\u2019t sure if I was prepared for or deserved. The reception has been everything I\u2019d hoped for.\u201d<\/p>\n Once she retires, Montgomery plans to spend more time with her grandchildren and visit Turrell\u2019s skyspaces<\/a> across the U.S., Denmark and Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the meantime, she\u2019ll keep walking the Keith House grounds \u2014 patiently waiting for the rest of the frogfruit to grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports<\/a>.<\/p>\n Disclosure: The Fort Worth Report\u2019s arts and culture coverage is supported in part by the Meta Alice Keith Bratten Foundation and the Virginia Hobbs Charitable Trust. 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Janelle Montgomery looks up to James Turrell\u2019s \u201cCome to Good\u201d skyspace at Keith House in Fort Worth. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n