From the saddle to the easel

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This article was published 04/10/2021 (1463 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are two types of cowboys, according to artist and poet Diamond Doug Keith – those who ride horses as a job and those who embody the spirit of the West. Keith has had the pleasure of being both.

As the Manitoba-born artist sits in his studio at the Cre8ery Gallery in downtown Winnipeg, his cowboy boots rest upon a worn cowskin rug, surrounded by western memorabilia and books on John Wayne, gallery workers hang nearly two dozen of the paintings for his show: Diamond Doug Keith – Cowboys and Characters on Canvas.  

Years ago, on his ranch near Domain, Man., Keith was working with a horse that had been abused by its previous owner. His plan was to spend some time with the animal, get it used to the feel of a saddle and the weight of his boot in its stirrup.

Unexpectedly, the horse crouched before launching Keith into the air. As he met the ground, the creature landed a powerful kick to Keith’s knee, crushing it and tearing his patella tendon. During his recovery journey, which was isolating at times, he said, Keith picked up art with a renewed ferocity.

“I started doing art at four years old. No matter what I was doing, whether I was in the saddle … I would still do my art,” he said.

The accident forced Keith to sell his ranch and move into the city. He still rides, though, sometimes up to 10 days at a time, camping under the prairie sky.

“The cowboy is still in my heart, no matter that I live in Wolseley,” he said. “Once it gets in there, that’s your lifestyle,” he said.

Keith said that his time at Cre8ery has changed his life.

“I love it here. I love the other artists. I love the people who come through to look at your art and talk about it or recognize somebody that I’ve painted,” he said.

Many of the works on display from Oct. 1 to 12 are Western-themed. But, as the show’s title suggests, Keith paints characters, or, rather, people with character.

Some of Keith’s semi-surreal, richly saturated acrylic figures, such as Tom Mix and Gene Autry, were stars of the silver screen. Others, like politician and filmmaker Ed Ackerman and sculpture artist Jordan Van Sewell, are celebrities on the local stage.

Some paintings capture quiet equestrian moments. One piece shows Keith crossing the Pembina River on the best steed he ever had, Tiller the Wonder Horse. Another painting depicts a young girl reaching to put a bridle on a horse, with every confidence that she’s tall enough to do so.

“There’s a behind-the-scenes (story) to all of them,” he said.

Keith has shared his art across North America at rodeos and on greeting cards and album covers.

Alongside his visual art, Keith has made a career out of his love for cowboy poetry — a form of spoken-word poetry that evolved from storytelling.

“If they put their stories to rhyme and metre, very simple poems, people would listen to them over and over,” he said.

“It found a way to entertain people around the campfire. Some of them are hilariously funny, but there’s some that are passing down folklore, there’s some of them are very sad. It’s a real different genre.”

Jordan Miller, executive director and owner of Cre8ery, met Keith five years ago when he joined the studio.

“He’s always checking in with everyone here and making sure they’re OK,” she said.

The pandemic postponed the show for a year. This delay, however, allowed him to have the entire gallery floor to himself.

Miller believes this solo show will give Keith — a blue-jeans-and-cowboy-hat-wearing character in his own right — an opportunity to connect with his audience over his meticulous paintings, years in the making.