Named after West Indies legendary fast bowler Courtney Walsh, award winning artist Courtney Mathium Douglas was supposed to one day be a professional cricketer and it just might have been as he is a die-hard sports fan. But every time he picked up his pencil or paintbrush, magic happened.
“Art is life. Everything we do in life is an art; the way we manage our daily activities, our personality, the way we choose to express ourselves and the way we treat each other,” Courtney posited.
y the age of six, Courtney believed he could create anything he imagined. His boyhood did not only find him driving miniature vehicles, he also made them. He fashioned wooden boats and trucks. Being a wonder at home extended to his classroom among his peers and teachers who quickly picked up on his skills and signed him up for competitions.
Born in Bartica and raised in Newfoundland, Region Ten situated opposite Bartica, Courtney attended Bartica Secondary School. He graduated as the school’s best Visual Arts, Technical Drawing and Building Construction student and was awarded a hinterland scholarship through the then Ministry of Amerindian Affairs to attend E R Burrowes School of Art in 2008.
In 2011, he graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts, having majored in painting with a minor in graphic design.
In the run up to graduation, the then art student had undertaken the task of painting children’s faces at an event. He recalled a man by the name of Lloyd Johnson approaching him at the event enquiring whether he knew anyone who was a portrait artist. When Courtney told him he was one, the man doubted him, as he figured he was only good enough to “paint butterflies and Spiderman face art.” He was certainly in for a surprise. Courtney invited him to his upcoming graduation slated for the following week where he was the Best Graduating Student in Painting, Drawing and Graphic Design.
As it would turn out, Lloyd Johnson became Courtney’s longtime customer and supporter. In fact, he was the first person to purchase the artist’s work, cementing his belief that he could make a career of what he loved doing. This experience has remained a favourite to share. His clientele subsequently grew to ministers, teachers, and families from all walks of life.
Courtney did not become an artist by chance. In fact, he has relatives who are artists though not on a professional level. According to Courtney, as a boy he learnt that his father dreamt of becoming an artist but without the required resources he was unable to pursue that dream. Knowing this made him take his art seriously and at 13 he began working on honing this skill, subsequently competing at and winning many art competitions throughout high school and beyond.
Such was his talent that Courtney won the National School Drawing Competition in 2002 (Theme: Discipline A Child Without Beating which was sponsored by the High Commission of India). He was the gold medallist in the Ninth Biannual Republic Bank sponsored National Drawing Competition in 2013 and winner of the National Coin Design Competition that same year, in commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the arrival of East Indians in Guyana. He won the Guyana Visual Arts Competition 2019 Drawing Category (titled: My First Teacher) and placed third in the Painting Category of the same competition with a submission titled ‘Playing Phagwah’ that very year.
His drawing ‘My First Teacher’, he said, is his most cherished piece. “…It features my wife and son whom I cherish and love dearly. I wanted to show them my love and appreciation,” he added. Prior to working on the award-winning masterpiece, Courtney had taken a hiatus from drawing from 2012-2016 during which time he directed his focus on his animation career. When he picked up drawing again in 2017, he realised the truth of the saying, ‘If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it’. Courtney confided that he almost lost his drawing skill and in returning to it, he began the process of redefining his art. Having almost lost his skill has inspired him to keep creating art, and he has not stopped since.
Today the artist provides portrait services in a variety of genres including caricature, mural and illustration drawings and paintings.
Courtney’s outstanding talent has tugged on the heartstrings of judges and gained the satisfaction of his clients but more than anything, his purpose for his art is to be a catalyst of him honestly expressing himself. “To promote love and unity and to highlight social issues affecting the citizens of our country and to share ideas of solutions to these,” was how he described his vocation.
He has reaped many benefits from choosing a career in art: becoming someone self-reliant, art being an avenue for stress relief, connecting with people, having a sense of purpose particularly when it comes to highlighting issues and providing solutions to them.
However, it is not all roses as there can be disadvantages to being an artist. “Sometimes you are easily misunderstood, [no] matter how hard you try to explain your work or yourself. People choose to degrade and abuse you. As an artist you are sometimes labelled as poor, no good and useless. I have overcome all this by knowing that I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me,” shared Courtney.
His journey in art has not been easy, but Courtney grew more determined with every challenge that came his way. With the art school being far from his home, he stayed with relatives in Bagotville, West Bank Demerara and commuted to school every day. Halfway through his three-year course, the house where he was staying burnt to the ground. He lost all of his paintings and materials and it was approaching the time when he needed to turn in all the work he had done. Devastated, Courtney shared that he felt like dropping out of school, but decided to leave everything to God. Owing to his scholarship, he was able to purchase his lost materials and spent his final year redoing 20 paintings. It was no easy feat and was even more challenging as he was required like his other colleagues to complete a 10,000 word thesis.
“This experience taught me that no matter what you’re going through in life, put God first and everything will be added unto you. Don’t worry about material things, those can always be replaced,” he admonished.
Courtney believes that it was really God who helped him to envision whether to take up sports or art as his career, adding that all the while he was polishing his skills in art, art was polishing his character and has contributed to the man he is today.
Sustaining himself and a family on art in Guyana is by no means easy. The artist pointed out that to get to a position to do that he had to be willing to create quality art every day and to promote his work also. An average of five years of constantly doing both should be enough for an artist to become established, Courtney said.
If artists are supported more locally, this will also contribute to their sustenance in the industry. He called for more funds to be set aside for the local art industry at the annual budget, so that artists can look forward to yearly competitions, loans and grants. Aside from the National Art Gallery, Courtney wishes that another building be designated for art where more work can be displayed and allow for more art exhibitions.
Courtney said he is open to learning new techniques, how to combine them and apply them to create art, so his work is constantly evolving.
“…My focus is to keep perfecting my art. My goal each day is to do better than the day before. Racial discrimination is preventing our country from progressing. The little problems and moral values are just a few that need to be addressed. In order for something to change, we must make the change first. Bruce Lee once said, ‘Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.’ Through my art I will keep sending positive messages and continue to let my light shine,” he vowed.
Recently Courtney created some controversy when he did a drawing of First Lady Arya Ali making a donation to a small child and a pregnant woman. The drawing painting was based on an actual photograph and some felt that it was stereotyping the black race and others even deemed it racist. Many took to the social media platform Facebook, on which Courtney had initially shared the drawing and condemned it and this forced him to remove it from his page and apologise. Courtney declined to comment on the controversy during this interview.
Courtney is an elder at the Parika branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is married to artist and designer, Aneeza Coelho-Douglas with whom he shares two children, six-year-old Lucas Myles and three-month-old Faith Mari.
He is also an artist/animator at Tinninben Animation Studio. Courtney and Aneeza also run a business, Matt and Annie’s Art – We Bring Walls to Life.
The artist can be followed on Facebook at Courtney Douglas and Matt and Annie’s Art – We Bring Walls to Life, and on Instagram @Courtney_artist_24.
