Keith Browning
1950 - 2022
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Gloucester, Keith Browning trained as a draughtsman, latterly worked as an Architectural Consultant and peripatetic guitar teacher, but was a visual artist his whole life. Initially Keith used oils and pencils, rendering 'fine art' style works before discovering a love of watercolour in the 1980s — probably due to its portability and the ease of which he could pull-over on a roadside to paint a scene. Throughout this time Keith also produced a number of large scale oil works which were sold or acquired by friends, family and clients, or languished in his attic never to be seen on view.
From around 2010 Keith started Balboa dancing with his wife Gill. The energy of dance led him to rediscover a love of drawing and this was to become a prolific period of creation. His series 'Dancing with Architecture’ - a fusing of these two passions - was shown at The Wilson gallery in Cheltenham in 2014, as well as a number of smaller galleries around Gloucestershire and The Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury, before being installed at Malvern Theatres where a number of the large works remain on display.
Then in 2017 he was commissioned by the RHS Malvern Spring Show to create a garden that responded to the culture of water in Malvern; the result was a striking garden that went on to win a coveted RHS Bronze Medal. ‘Bubble Drops’ is a conceptual work of sculpture and play, with a series of monolithic structures surrounded by pools of water and a baron coloured land. Also in 2017 Keith mounted a large exhibition of duck portraits at the WWT Slimbridge, entitled 'Duck Selfies'. This was inspired by years of working with The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and also with its founder Sir Peter Scott; a cherished time where his design for an accessible bird-hide was way ahead of its time and led to him being presented to HRH Queen Elizabeth II. Keith noticed the ducks and geese would smile at camera and his resulting exhibition is as charming as it is striking. Other commissions during this time include a large sculpture of a Gloucester Old Spot Pig for the Three Counties Show and a hoarding for Gloucester Cathedral that stood proudly at the entrance during renovations.
But Keith’s creative pursuits didn’t stop there: He enjoyed treading the boards in his twenties with The Pheonix Players and gigging on the local folk scene. Later in life he was part of Cheltenham Everyman’s Equity Group, undertook countless roles as an extra in film and TV, wrote poetry and plays, and a few film and TV scripts. And all that aside, his “15 minutes of fame” was coming third in an ITV competion to write a new theme tune for This Morning where he performed his entry live at Liverpool Albert Dock on the famous floating weather map.
“Good morning This Morning - Let’s make it, a ha-ppy day."
