Featured artist: Bebe Keith

Bebe Keith: a lifelong interest in art

I was always interested in art. As a kid I drew a lot and I remember winning a couple community awards. However, I didn’t consider art as a career.

I didn’t really think a person could make a living as an artist unless they were very famous, so I studied to teach at the primary level.

After teaching for twelve years, I took a leave of absence. A few things happened during the next few years: I went back to school for graphic design, I kayaked down the Mississippi River (and got caught in Hurricane Katrina – but that’s another story), and I made my first stained glass mosaic.

First state fair competition.

I entered one of my very first mosaics in the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Competition not realizing that it was so difficult to get in until I got in. Not only that, I won a second place ribbon.

This was a turning point for me. It was my first validation that my art (as an adult, anyway!) was good. It was very encouraging!

Me with “Queen Gertrude – Hamlet’s Mother” that won Second Place

Bebe Keith's mosaics go public.

I continued making stained glass mosaics. Drawing upon my training as a teacher, as a graphic designer, and as an artist, I compiled and illustrated a book titled, “The Girls and Boys of Mother Goose”.

Now, I had 20 mosaics of nursery rhymes! What to do? I started calling children’s hospitals and placed nearly all of them in these public institutions.

This opened things up for me with my other art as well.

Over the next several years, I wrote/illustrated two more books, “Mosaic Zoo: An ABC Book” and “I Love You to Pieces!”, and sold these mosaics and much of my other artwork to hospitals and clinics.

Bebe accepts larger projects.

Working with art consultants and placing work in public spaces gave me the confidence to approach increasingly bigger projects. For instance, my public art spans a terrazzo floor in a huge event center, an 11 foot glass sculpture at a university, large scale mosaics at the MSP International Airport, and much more. (see below).

During the last five years or so, I started playing with paper mosaics. When I moved a few years ago, I decided to sell all of my glass supplies and equipment once and for all. My heart had been stolen by paper!

Today I continue with paper mosaics. I have a new commission for another terrazzo floor at a college. And I have learned that a person can be a real artist and not be famous!

Where to find Bebe Keith's work...

You can find my books here: https://www.bebekeith.com/store

I teach online classes in paper mosaics here: https://artwithbebe.teachable.com

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bebekeithdesigns/

Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bebekeithdesigns

My website: https://www.bebekeith.com

If you would like to share your creative story here, please contact me and I will send you an information letter with the requirements for appearing in this space. I publish two artists/creatives each month. Presently, I am looking for artists/creatives for April.

To view other artists who have been featured on my website in the last 2.5 years, please visit the Guest Artist page. I am so lucky to have published talented, productive artists and creatives from all over the world (photographer, author...) on Louise's ARTiculations. Many of them remain in my circle of friends on social media sites, and some, I have even met in person.

Artfully yours,

Louise