ABOUT MOSAIC MUSE

Keith Gorham was born and raised in Kelwood, a small farming community in central Manitoba. After finishing high school, he stuck out his thumb and hitchhiked to Vancouver, BC. Once there, Keith worked at odd jobs until he got married, eventually securing a job driving for a local tile contractor. After three years, Keith was accepted into a tile apprenticeship. Taking well to the trade, he embarked on a lifelong career as a tile contractor, working on jobs of increasing complexity over the decades. This continued until 2020, when health issues led Keith to retire from the profession. 

Although he had always been interested in art and puttered away at it—taking a watercolour program at one point, for instance—Keith had never been too serious about the arts. Now, however, he found himself with some rare free time. A close artist friend who recognized his artistic leanings urged Keith to get serious about putting his skills to use creating one-of-a-kind tile mosaics, and that’s just what he did. The transition to creating mosaics was a very natural one given that much of tilesetting—making coffee tables, frames for mirrors, etc.—is artisanal by its very nature, demanding a discerning artistic eye. 

After moving to Airdrie, Alberta in the fall of 2020, Keith began taking art much more seriously. Since then, he’s slowly formed a growing relationship with other artisans in the area, forging a strong connection with mosaic artists in particular. Keith’s pieces, which he makes using strictly ceramic tile, are created through a highly labour-intensive process, with most pieces taking at least two months—and up to six—to fully complete.