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Greg Beecham
The son of the artist Tom Beecham,
Greg grew up hunting, fishing, observing nature and learning
to draw—always aware of a yearning to follow in his father’s
footsteps. He remembers standing for hours with his dad, studying
the movements of whitetail deer in the woods behind their home.
His dream of studying full-time with his
father had to be postponed until Greg completed a tour in
the U.S. Navy. He enlisted as a hospital corpsman and served
on the Guided Missile Destroyer the USS John S. McCain, which
sailed home from Vietnam just six days after Beecham reported
for duty. Finally, in 1978, after a few years at Southern
Oregon State College, father and son dedicated themselves
to developing Greg’s fine art career. At an art show
in 1985, Beecham was further inspired by Bob Kuhn, who gave
me “permission,” as Greg puts it, to play with paint.
Since then, Beecham has won many awards for his fluid unions
of animal and environment, including Best of Show, People’s
Choice and Artist’s Choice awards at the C.M. Russell
Auction; Best of Show, People’s Choice and Featured Artist
honors at the Pacific Rim Wildlife Art Show, and the Wildlife
Art News Award at the Society of Animal Artist’s Art
Exhibition. He was just asked to be special guest artist at
the ‘99 Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. In addition,
Beecham’s artwork has been exhibited in the Museum of
Natural History in Beijing, China and is in the permanent
collection of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Museum and the Clymer
Museum in Ellensburg, Washington.
A devout Christian, Greg Beecham
honors the beauty of creation while raising his children to
become productive, caring people and remaining a loving husband
to his wife of more than twenty years. “I try to create
interesting compositions, complimented by dynamic color harmonies,
light and value,” he says. “My motto? Do all things
unto the Lord and get so good you can’t be ignored.”
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