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Basics : I am an artist working mostly in large scale sculpture. Much of my work moves, and much is interactive. My business and studio are based in Portland, OR, though I spend extended periods in New York City. I am married to Page Fortna and we have two excellent daughters, Rosina, 18, & Linden, 15. I will have you know that THEY know their way around a workshop.
Mailing List : Join the Beeman Artworks mailing list below. This list gets mail a few times a year, generally when I have something in a show, finish a project, or add something to my website. Run by MailChimp, easy to unsubscribe. Contact : info@petebeeman.com Noble Men : I love working with good people. A Bangladeshi man once asked my wife to be his "Noble Man", meaning he wanted her to champion his cause. See my "Noble Men" here.Public Art Locations :
Goings on : August 2024: We installed "Dogwood Iris" in City Hall in Milwaukie Oregon. June 2024: We spruced up and re-installed Pod. Better than ever. Go check it out. February 2024 : I worked with RACC to temporarily remove the kinetic core of Pod, one of my earliest big works. After about 22 years on the streets of Portland, we decided it could use a couple months at the spa. After some rehab at my shop, I hope to return it in June, better than ever. Big help from Keith Lachowicz and Ivan Salcido of RACC, RACC in general, and, of course, Beeman Artworks stalwart Tanner Smith.
Meant to hang a sign saying "GONE FISHIN" .....
September 2023 : I installed Grasp at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign IL. Big help from Tanner Smith, Calder Muller, Linden Beeman-Fortna and Kirsten Hilton. See it here.
Forever 2023 : I installed Trajectory in Oklahoma City at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, the most challenging project of my entire freakin life. Oof. I usually take my own photos, right at the end of installing the project. I couldnt with this one, so I hired Mel Willis to do it. She did a great job, but, man it took us forever to get her on site with what we needed to shoot the pics. You can see more about it here. Here's a teaser: 
May 2023 : Lincoln City and the LCCC got Richard Wright of Future Post Media to put together an even better video about Poppy, the install, me, and my mom. Richard did a great job telling my story, the story of the project, and why it is named for my mom's childhood nickname. Check it out: January 2023 : Lincoln City celebrated the new sculpture "Poppy" with a dedication ceremony. I wore a funny hat! I met the mayor! Richard Wright of Future Post Media put together this lovely little video of the event in case you missed it:
November 2022 : We had a great time installing my new sculpture "Poppy" in Lincoln City. Thanks to Kelly Howard and Kerstin Hilton for providing the glass in the sculpture, and Tanner Smith and Matt Perez for their help in fabrication and installation. See more here! March 2022 : I installed "Leaps & Bounds", a stainless sculpture, in La Grande, OR at Eastern Oregon University. Thanks to Todd Littlehales for fabrication and David Levine for installation. See more here!
March 2021 : Writer, podcaster and old friend
Paul Podolsky interviewed me for his podcast "Things I DIDNT Learn In
School" listen
here to hear Paul and I chat about making Big Art thru the ages....
or go thru his website by clicking his name above. Also in the PR world a local OKC paper ran a bit about my upcoming project for a softball stadium in Oklahoma City. See it here. October 2020 : Sam Schrott and I delivered Anomal to the Bend Science Station. Anomal is inspired by the Anomalocaris fossils from long ago, and by David Bermudez, who runs the BSS in Bend Oregon. Click HERE to see more and to hear Bermi and me talk about Anomal in a video BSS produced.
November 2019 : Sam Schrott and I delivered the Draper Wave to a new Rec Center in Draper Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The building is not quite finished yet, but the peice looks great and went in with relative ease. Thanks to Sam, Tanner Smith and Sarah Crabtree for makin it happen over the summer. See more here!
September 2018 - June 2019 : Our family lived in Sri Lanka for the year! An unbelievable trip. In our time there I had the pleasure of designing an impromptu welcome sign for our friends at the Amba tea estate, and building it on the spot with the local welder and his equipment from the Mesozoic era. See more here.
January 2019 : Beeman Artworks affiliate and hero Todd Littlehales installed a little project in Palo Alto, California for me. The Hand Wagon will live on Newell Rd where it hits Embarcadero Rd at Fire Station #3, the corner of Rinconada Park. Turns out Beeman Artworks delivers on time, even when I am in Sri Lanka, and the building is totally unfinished. So they will box it up for a while, until they finish construction. Thanks Littlehales! Tanner Smith and Lindsay Kranz had a hand in fabrication, way back when. See more here.
February 2018 : I installed "Beacon" in the NE Community Park in Frisco Texas, next to the awesome Frisco Skate Park. As ever, thanks to Tanner Smith, Lindsay Kranz and Andy Bixler for their work getting it built. See it here!
Thanks also to the Frisco Parks crew!! They were a big and unexpected help on the install. On the other hand, the equipment rental place did not send their BEST man:
December 2017 : We installed the Venturian Trio in SE
Portland, three sculptures of stainless steel rod and Oregon Basalt river
boulders. Thanks to Tanner Smith, Lindsay Kranz and Andy Bixler for sticking
with me to install that one.
March 2017
: We installed "Jelly" in
Front of House, the gallery
space at the front of Jessica Helgerson Interior Design's office. Super fun
installation, you can get an idea
here. Thanks to Jessica for inviting me to do the project! and to the inimitable,
indomitable Jelly Crew for fabrication and installation! Tanner Smith, Andy
Bixler, Lindsay Kranz, and Diana Nelson. Lightning fast and totally awesome.
March 2017
: We installed my biggest project ever, this for the courtyard of Tebeau Hall
at OSU in Corvallis Oregon. Nearly 4 tons of stainless, thirty two feet
high. Fantastic project! Huge thanks to my killer crew! Tanner Smith, Andy Bixler, Lindsay Kranz,
Diana Nelson, Sam Schrott and Charli Beck, who made it so well, and made it so fun.
November 2016 : I won grand prize, a $10,000 cash grant, in a public art competition put on by Kris Wines and the Americans for the Arts. It was an honor just to be listed in the competition as one of AFTA's top 100 public art projects in the US in 2015. Thanks to incessant internet voting across the country by loyal fans, I won the big prize for the Binghapmton Exploration Stations in Memphis TN.
May 2016 : I installed a fun little project for Hearst
Elementary School in Washington, DC, a sort of permanent scavenger hunt in
bronze and stainless steel. Very popular among the 1st grade set. Highlight
of the install was a possible Ian MacKaye sighting! Rock n roll gods do walk
the earth!
February 2016 : We hung a small project for The Union, a new mixed use building by the
convention center in Portland, OR. A series drawings of gears in stainless
steel. Tanner Smith, Jim Beekman, and Todd Littlehales made up the crack
install team.
October 2015 : I put in a series of 3 sculptures
in the Binghampton neighborhood of Memphis TN. Really fun install, great neighborhood, with lots of folks helping out. Big thanks to Pat Brown of T.Clifton Art, UrbanArt, Paul West and the crew at West Memorials and Baltz Concrete there in Memphis. Big help from Tanner Smith building the projects over the summer. As ever, Jim Beekman helped me get it in the box, as did Tanner and his buddy Derek Weston.
Local press in the Commercial Appeal, the Memphis Business Journal,
and the
Memphis Flyer.
October 2015 : I braved a dengue outbreak to
install my fourth project in Taiwan, in the southern city of Tainan, in
spite of how delicious mosquitos find me. It is a 20' diameter star with 20 points. Thanks
to Julia Zell,
Tanner Smith, David Levine, and
Jack Schrott for their help on this project.
For some old press, click here updated:3/8/2024 |
