GRAYLING — Every creative has their dream accomplishment— for Kim Diment, it came attached to a painting of a blue heron along the Au Sable River.
This fall Grayling artist Kim Diment became one of 12 active members of the Society of Animal Artists to hold Masters status — one of only 18 since 1960, despite a global membership of 1,200 — as well as the first Michigan artist to hold the title.
“Big Blue”, an acrylic painting featuring a blue heron poised on the banks of the Au Sable River, a common place of inspiration for Diment’s art, won her her fifth award of excellence from the organization, which took her to Masters status as of the October awards banquet in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
“It’s something I thought I was going to be quite a few years off of, if ever getting it. Getting the masters, it means you have to have five [awards of excellence] so every year, I’m hoping and hoping to get that fifth one,” Diment said. “They announced they had eight awards of excellence this year, and waited to announce the very last one, which was mine. I was in shock and awe, and I still am. It’s such a high honor for me and felt like a lifetime achievement award.”
This recent accomplishment takes her back to her first major achievement of her first Society of Animal Artists award of excellence in 2012, which her parents accepted on her behalf.
“I did make mention of my mom and dad and it did feel like they were there as well. I had won the Michigan duck stamp a long time ago and that was another thing that they were always behind me. The first time I won, I wasn’t there. I was traveling and so in place of me, they were there. So it kind of felt tit for tat, you know, for that first major award. They were there in my place, and rightly so,” Diment said.
Diment recounted the importance of the support she’d received from her parents, as well as former teacher Peggy Ridgeway, throughout her artistic journey, up to the current circle she has including her husband and other peers. She also reflected on her personal journey as a woman within the wildlife art space.
“It was thrilling to be the first female to win the Michigan Duck Stamp,” she said. “And since then, that’s changed. There’s loads and loads of females who have walked into that genre and are doing well. Back in the time, I think it was 2001, and it still felt like it was male dominated. I don’t know if it was because people didn’t know how much I knew about wildlife, but I don’t feel like that anymore. I know just as many top-notch female wildlife artists as I do male.”
Diment, who also spent some time as a high school art teacher, found that coaching and encouraging young artists in their early careers not only allowed her to support the next generation, but to grow in her own work as well.
“I was really learning and was able to submit more of my knowledge in my head when I had to teach it to kids. I had to know exactly what I was doing and I had to do it better in order to be able to teach it. I really loved teaching.”
On top of having a local impact on students, Diment has had a number of exhibits at the Dennos Museum, and was also listed as one of Northern Express’ most fascinating people of Northwestern Michigan because of her extensive travels as a wildlife artist.
However, her contributions don’t stop there. In 2015, she opened the Main Branch Gallery in Grayling roughly fifteen years ago alongside photographer Ken Wright. The galley itself features twenty talented nature and wildlife artists from all over the Great Lake Region, with pieces of all mediums.
“As an artist, in the past I’ve had a hard time because I’m really representational or realistic and there’s not a lot of different galleries for that. So I thought it would be cool to have a gallery that is branded as a nature gallery and then have every different type of art I can have as long as it’s nature oriented,” Diment said. “We have some stuff that’s abstract, some stuff that’s kind of impressionistic. We’ve got bronzes and we have carvings. It’s just trying to have nature as the main focal point and not necessarily, you know, abstract, realistic or whatever.”
Much like an artist, of course, her future looks like another neverending lineup of projects, from book covers and working with the Anglers of the Au Sable on conversation and art, to an upcoming trip to Kenya for more African animal art adventures.
Check out more of Diment’s work on her website, https://www.kimdiment.com/, or support Northern Michigan art by visiting Main Branch Gallery at 208 Michigan Ave, Grayling, MI.