Today we’d like to introduce you to Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman.
Hi Deirdre, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My mother was an artist and was very encouraging of my creativity from the beginning; some of my earliest memories are of painting, drawing and collaging. I remember that once I won a coloring book at a birthday party; she wouldn’t let me color in the pre-drawn images, but she asked me to copy the images in the book onto new paper, then color those. I painted and drew consistently through high school, but when it came time for college, I resisted art school. I didn’t like the thought of following in my mom’s footsteps; I had a lot of resistance to that path. I turned down a scholarship at Pratt to go to USC for film school. Film school really embedded a narrative drive within my art, and (not super ironically) my student film was a take on Alice in Wonderland that I animated.
In my 40s, after working in the art departments of film productions and then event design, I started to get more bold about putting my art out into the world. I studied under a few teachers who were experts in the techniques I was interested in (Mischtechnik and different methods of combining oil and egg tempera); that helped give me the confidence I needed to start showing on my own. Living in LA, I became very attracted to pop surrealism – its aesthetics and its subject matters. Artists like Mark Ryden, Todd Schorr, Robert Venosa, and so many others inspired me to work with subjects and themes that intrigue me.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the biggest challenges for me is overcoming my innate shyness. It’s one of the reasons why showing my art was so difficult for me, even after I had decided it was my calling. I love connecting with people, especially about art, but I have to work through a lot of hesitations in order to be fully engaged in presenting my work in public.
Being a woman is also a challenge in the professional art world. There’s been a ton of progress around representation, but I believe there is still prejudice to overcome. This is why women are the focus of my subject matter and is also a primary driving force behind my choice to show women artists when curating.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman is a surrealist painter who uses modified oil and egg tempera Old Masters techniques to devise works of magical, feminist realism that aim to glow from within. Sullivan-Beeman creates a palimpsest that employs the imposed history and lore of the female in empowering femininity. Her young women find their strength in a multitude of potentialities, sexualities, and charismas. Sullivan-Beeman views these women as powerful and wise. The narratives, iconography, and simulacra in her otherworldly works emerge from someplace subliminal. She often uses her dream journal as inspiration, exploring Jung’s collective unconscious with an overt curiosity for the bizarre and esoteric such as alchemy, the tarot, and animal guides.
Sullivan-Beeman lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and Vancouver, Canada. While she has a BFA in Cinema from the University of Southern California, she is a self-taught artist. Her work has been in notable galleries and museums such as Haven Gallery in Northport, NY; Stephen Romano Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, CA: The Belskie Museum of Art & Science in Closter, NJ; Phylogeny Contemporary in Seattle, WA; Greg Moon Art in Taos, NM; Merlino Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea in Florence, Italy; Galerie Bruno Massa in Paris, France. She has participated at art fairs such as Scope Immersive 2020, LA Art Show in Los Angeles, CA, Aqua Art Miami and Pulse Art Fair in Miami, FL, Art! Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada; and more. Sullivan-Beeman has had three solo exhibitions at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. She has been named a Finalist in the Imaginative Realism category by the Art Renewal Center three times.
How do you think about happiness?
My first happiness is being with my family. My husband, our two children and I are tight and love to spend time together. Most of my favorite times are times we spend the four of us.
In my work, my happiness is making a cup of tea on a rainy day and just losing myself in painting. It’s a mental space I can truly and completely immerse myself in; it’s common for me to paint for hours and lose track of time entirely.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.sullivanbeeman.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dsullivanbeeman/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sullivanbeeman
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dsullivanbeeman
Image Credits:
Headshot – Jeffrey Sklan print signing at KP Projects – Katie Frankenbach
