Carl Beam

Artist Bio: Carl Beam, RCA (1943-2005)

Carl Edward Migwans, the first artist of Native Ancestry (Ojibwe), to have his work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada, and is one of Canada’s most influential artists who succeeded in eliminating the boundary between aboriginal and contemporary art.
Beam was born in West Bay on Manitoulin Island in 1943 in the MÕChigeeng First Nation. His formal studies began at the Kootenay School of Art in British Columbia in 1971 and later transferred to the University of Victoria in 1973. He received his MFA at the University of Alberta in1976. His early influences in contemporary art practice at that time was American Expressionism and Pop Art, drawing from such influences as Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg for their collaging of images from popular culture and handling of mixed media, as well as Andy Warhol for his use of photo-silkscreen processes.

Beam worked in various photographic mediums, mixed media, oil, acrylic, handmade ceramic pottery and found objects, in addition to etching, lithography, and screen process.ÊHe also was highly knowledgeable in local pigments sourced from Manitoulin Island, which knowledge he passed on to his daughter who is also a professional practicing Indigenous artist; Anong Migwans Beam. He is known for integrating his personal history, traditional Woodland Native imagery, and historical events to illustrate political work which highlights tensions between traditional ways of life of his people, Colonial history, and broader world issues.

BeamÕs work is collected worldwide and included in major private and public collections nationally and internationally, including the National Gallery of Canada, The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y. In 2000, Carl Beam was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts.Ê