Kee, Bilson

A Different Kind of Sandpainter

Bilson was born in Ganado, Arizona, in 1963 and raised west of there in the small community of Cottonwood. Throughout his early school years and through high school at Chinle, Arizona, Kee collected first-place ribbons in school art shows.

“I did drawing, sand painting, watercolor, and acrylic painting,” he says. “I even did three-dimensional art, like carving and sculpture. It was just something I could do.”

The family moved to Scottsdale, where they lived between 1991 and 1995. He found a way to support himself with his art.

“There was a place called Rawhide on North Scottsdale Road, kind of an old west town, and I demonstrated sand painting there. They had lots of tourists, and I was able to make a living.“

When they closed, I moved to Farmington and started doing different paintings with sand. I would coat a board with sand and then paint on it with acrylic.”

Kee entered his work at the Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial and won blue ribbons in three categories. He continues to work out of Farmington, NM.