Learning & Events

Keegan Starlight was either 18 or 19, he doesn’t quite recall exactly, when he achieved one of his greatest honours as an artist. The accomplished artist, painter, and muralist has had plenty of honours to choose from in his illustrious career, now spanning decades. His work beautifully adorns the sides of buildings and the walls of art galleries. His style is one of vibrant colours and stories celebrating his culture and championing a future for his people. Yet it was being told by his father that he would carry on the tradition of his family’s teepee that still to this day, 20 years later, that recalls with pride. 

One of seven siblings, Keegan grew up on the Tsuut’ina First Nation on the western edges of Calgary, AB where the endless skies of the prairies meet the poplar trees and rolling foothills.  Keegan, in a characteristic quiet humility and with gentle words reminisced of a childhood raised in tradition and duty. Everything had its place and time; when to hunt, when to gather teepee poles, when to paint the design, all were part of a way of life that shapes the award winning artist to this day. Part of this tradition is the protection and passing on of his family’s teepee design, one that stretches back hundreds of years. 

“We all had our place. From a young age, I was helping my dad to paint these designs on the teepee.” Keegan says, pausing with a subtle smile before describing how his father then approached him in his teenage years and cemented his legacy as one of Western Canada’s most prolific Indigenous muralists.

“Okay Keegan, you go and paint the teepee.” Keegan recalls the words his father said to him. “That’s your job now.”

Keegan’s art gravitated towards people, early on. Recollecting that he, in an antithesis of the belief that photography would steal a part of one’s soul, felt that each time he was able to draw a new person, that he was giving them part of their spirit back. 

“It’s like having that power within yourself to express who that is on paper.” Keegan says. “It’s like bringing it back to them.”  This unique way of seeing goes beyond ink, paint, and graphite but he is special in ways that very few people are.

It was discovered while he was working with graphite, a medium that Keegan describes as a rich, oily texture. A subtle iridescence can be seen if viewed at the right angle and under the right light, but for Keegan, it was ever present and “moving”. He described that the sky itself had a subtle motion to it, something that prompted a concerned wife to suggest getting his eyes checked. 

Keegan was diagnosed with tetrachromacy, and that he has an extra cone in his eyes. The condition, almost opposite to colour blindness, brings with it more colours, deeper vibrancy, and a way of seeing that is incredibly rare for males. A way of seeing that has influenced his work for his entire life, whether he knew it or not. Now, he’s been leaning into this gift through his work, trying to duplicate it through colours, brushstrokes, and gradients. 

Keegan sits in the lobby of the new BMO Centre in Calgary, wearing exhaustion on his face. Over a hundred of guests and dignitaries had almost completely filtered out after the unveiling ceremony of Keegan’s largest work. Always in My Heart, is a three-story mural of his daughter and a horse, with a teepee in the background. Each aspect of the piece brings meaning, messaging, and purpose. 

“My daughter’s red dress is a homage to the missing and murdered, but it also says we’re still here.”
Keegan says, gesturing to the piece behind him. “Usually, we see the dress as absent. She;s wearing it. She’s still here.”

The painting has messages of healing, time on early, connections to the spirit world, and tradition. Even the name itself has a call to tradition. 

“It’s about blood memory and our willingness to get our culture back.” The memory that Keegan leaves here is one that will be around for a very long time. The mural is a permanent addition to the new state of the art event centre, and it, along with all of the messages of reconciliation, tradition, and pride will be with it for decades to come.

Keegan Starlight, with quiet humility, continues making art that speaks loudly. Whether through public works of art like Always in My Heart, or through acts of cultural preservation by painting his families teepee at the Elbow River Camp for the Calgary Stampede.