Carl Beam
Encyclopedia
Carl Beam R.C.A. born Carl Edward Migwans, made Canadian art history as the first artist of Native Ancestry (Ojibwe), to have his work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada
as Contemporary Art
. A major retrospective of his work, mounted by the National Gallery of Canada, is on exhibition starting October 22, 2010, recognizing Beam as one of Canada's most important artists. He worked in various photographic mediums, mixed media
, oil, acrylic, spontaneously scripted text on canvas, works on paper, Plexiglas, stone, cement, wood, handmade ceramic pottery, and found objects, in addition to etching
, lithography
, and screen process.
. His mother, Barbara Migwans was the Ojibwe daughter of Dominic Migwans who was then the Chief of the Ojibways of West Bay (later renamed M'Chigeeng First Nation
). "The Beam family's true name derives from miigwaans which means little feather or bird." His father Edward Cooper, was an American soldier, who died as a POW in WWII. "He was raised by his grandparents Dominic and Annie for most of his young life. His exceptional qualities were observed by his elders at a young age, and he was given the name "Ahkideh", from aakode' meaning "one who is brave" in the Ojibwe language
." He was sent to Garnier Residential School
, in Spanish, Ontario
, from the age of ten until he left as a young man.
, Beam entered Kootenay School of Art (1971). He went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria
in 1974, and entered into post-graduate studies at the University of Alberta
, (1975–76). He left the University of Alberta over a dispute about his thesis on native art, and returned to Ontario.
instant prints, and a solvent transfer technique also used by Robert Rauschenberg
.
to live and work. "We developed a dialogue together in everyday living, politics, world events, ceramic technique, painting, and all things art, that would continue for the next 26 years". Said Beam of the time "It was in the southwest years later with Ann and Anong, who was a baby, that I saw my first Mimbres bowl, or rather a cupboard full of Mimbres bowls in a gallery on the square in downtown Santa Fe
, New Mexico. Some were completely intact, some had been restored, but all shared a bold adventurous design. When I discovered they were done 1,000 years ago, I was completely surprised." Beam and his wife Ann exhibited their ceramic work together in The Painted Pottery of Ann and Carl Beam at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
, University of New Mexico
, Albuquerque, NM.
pottery and Mimbres bowls as were made by the Anasazi who lived in the area centuries before.
In the words of Ann Beam, “It was the Santa Clara blackwares that got us first” Beam became excited with the adventurous and bold designs he observed in these works. Eventually he met Rose Montaya who further exposed him to her techniques and those passed down from her mother. Having learned much from Rose, Beam was able to find his own clay and paint stones, fire outside with dried dung or wood, and experiment extensively – about 70% of the early works were lost due to trial and error – all works were hand made without a wheel, often unglazed and polished with a stone.
His Mimbres bowls were fabricated as a modern version of the ancient Anasazi ones - on the interior they were generally cream colored and quite smooth whereas the exterior appeared almost disregarded and less important (see Figures 1 and 2). Having studied all available exemplars found in museums, art galleries, shops, books, and otherwise, Beam’s contemporary versions were largely influenced by the materials and sophisticated art dialogue present in the Anasazi works he saw. Also in the Anasazi tradition, Beam’s bowls typically featured a bold design around the rim with his own unique images placed in the center. The result of his and Ann's early work was an exhibition in 1982 entitled “The Painted Pottery of Ann and Carl Beam” at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
of the University of New Mexico
in Albuquerque, with other shows to follow later.
Beam preferred the Mimbres bowl because it was a form conducive to his creative expression: “Finally, one form I could use to be absolutely creative in … the hemispherical quality of a large bowl still excites me like no cup, tea pot, plate or other clay shape can do…it is a universe unto itself where anything can happen – the designs are limitless.”
Beam continued to work on and off in pottery, creating bowls, snake pots and other handmade creations almost always decorated with his designs and images. The raven
is featured prominently in many of his works – “Migwans”, Beam’s family name, means “feather” or “bird”. His works also feature news events (such as the Anwar Sadat
assassination
) or self portraits or the shaman figure and family, a theme often returned to (seen in Figure 1) Beam also shared the techniques learned and developed with others including his cousin David Migwans, now an accomplished artist living in M'Chigeeng First Nation
, Manitoulin Island
.
, and Santa Fe, Beam returned to Canada, where he felt his work had an important contribution to make. "A return to Canada in 1983 at first meant no change in format: one ceramic work by Beam of a shaman family, in the collection of the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario, has the central image Beam favoured in New Mexico, though now one that represents his current situation. Here a shaman figure holds the hands of a figure to either side, likely a veiled reference to his wife, Ann, and his daughter, Anongonse, born in 1980." The family moved to Peterborough, Ontario
, and in 1984, Beam was commissioned to make an art work for the Thunder Bay Art Gallery
. He titled the piece Exorcism. This became part of a "breakthrough exhibition" for him, which had a catalogue, and was titled Altered Egos the Multi-media Artwork of Carl Beam. It was curated by Elizabeth McLuhan. Living in the east end of Peterborough, Ontario
, Beam created an early set of large format etching
s, consisting of nine prints. There are many signature images in this print collection, which Beam later used to form the image backbone of his iconic work The North American Iceberg. This work was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada
, making Beam the first artist of Native ancestry to have his work purchased into the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada
as contemporary art.
, and his arrival in North America. He found in this event, a rich source for a discussion on the nature of culture, as well as revisions and versions of history. He created at this time,(1989–1992) a body of work entitled The Columbus Project. Its first stage had exhibition venues in Peterborough, Ontario
at both ArtSpace (curated by Shelagh Young), and also the Art Gallery of Peterborough
. The second phase of the Columbus Project was an exhibition at The Power Plant
in Toronto
, curated by Richard Rhodes entitled the Columbus Boat. The exhibition continued on to venues in Italy and the United States. Beam's imagery for the Columbus Project was cross-culturally vast, and contained the primary images of Columbus, and Native peoples, but also images of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy
, Albert Einstein
, and Abraham Lincoln
, Italian Christian iconography, diverse animal species, self portraits and technology (stop lights, rockets). There were two sculptural elements, Voyage a partial reconstruction of the Santa Maria
, and the Ampulleta, a 6 feet (1.8 m) hourglass, with one obstructive stone within the sand, as well as several installations, and a video performance of Beam in the Dominican Republic
, making a representational graveyard on the beaches where the landing could have taken place.
In 1992 Carl Beam and Ann Beam built an adobe
house on Manitoulin Island
. "Their adobe house became to a certain extent, a large scale project which evolved naturally out of their earlier experiences with Native American pottery and the building vernacular of the American southwest." Their life experience was incorporated in his exhibition Living in Mother Earth, and her exhibition Sub-division Suite/Earth Builder's Narrative.
complexity, a dizzying assortment of references, sometimes printed in overly saturated, fluorescent colour. Mystery, for instance, is pink-Day-Glo-coloured pink. The colour in Summa ranges from Day-Glo yellow-green to orange; the images from Einstein and the Hubble Telescope, and astronaut, and Sitting Bull to and image of the First Nations, and more besides." His imagery had become vast and all inclusive, in The Whale of Our Being "He re-examines the media construction of violence and infamy and the public fascination with celebrity". Said Beam at a panel discussion for the Beyond History exhibition in 1989, "If an artist has a legitimate premise, there is nothing which isn't within their field of enquiry".
He often said "the natives, smart people"
, Marilyn Manson
, Jerry Garcia
, Britney Spears
, John Lennon
), TV personalities (Martha Stewart
), animals, and birds. He had completed Plexiglas works, and 22"x30" paper works for Crossroads and was in the middle of a suite of etchings at the time of his passing.
Carl Beam received the Governor General's Award for Excellence in Visual and Media Art in 2005.
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...
as Contemporary Art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
. A major retrospective of his work, mounted by the National Gallery of Canada, is on exhibition starting October 22, 2010, recognizing Beam as one of Canada's most important artists. He worked in various photographic mediums, mixed media
Mixed media
Mixed media, in visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.There is an important distinction between "mixed-media" artworks and "multimedia art". Mixed media tends to refer to a work of visual art that combines various traditionally distinct...
, oil, acrylic, spontaneously scripted text on canvas, works on paper, Plexiglas, stone, cement, wood, handmade ceramic pottery, and found objects, in addition to etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
, lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
, and screen process.
Childhood
Carl Beam was born Carl Edward Migwans on May 24, 1943, in M'Chigeeng First NationM'Chigeeng First Nation
M'Chigeeng First Nation, also known as West Bay, is an Ojibwe First Nation in the Manitoulin District of Ontario, Canada. Total registered population as of September, 2007, was 2251 people, of which their on-reserve population was 882...
. His mother, Barbara Migwans was the Ojibwe daughter of Dominic Migwans who was then the Chief of the Ojibways of West Bay (later renamed M'Chigeeng First Nation
M'Chigeeng First Nation
M'Chigeeng First Nation, also known as West Bay, is an Ojibwe First Nation in the Manitoulin District of Ontario, Canada. Total registered population as of September, 2007, was 2251 people, of which their on-reserve population was 882...
). "The Beam family's true name derives from miigwaans which means little feather or bird." His father Edward Cooper, was an American soldier, who died as a POW in WWII. "He was raised by his grandparents Dominic and Annie for most of his young life. His exceptional qualities were observed by his elders at a young age, and he was given the name "Ahkideh", from aakode' meaning "one who is brave" in the Ojibwe language
Ojibwe language
Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...
." He was sent to Garnier Residential School
Residential school
Residential school may refer to:* Canadian Indian residential school system* a term used to describe boarding schools*A residential treatment center for people with addictions or severe mental illnesses...
, in Spanish, Ontario
Spanish, Ontario
Spanish is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located on Trans-Canada Highway 17 in the Algoma District near the border of the Sudbury District...
, from the age of ten until he left as a young man.
Education
After working at a variety of jobs, from construction work on the Toronto Subway, to working as a millwright in Wawa, OntarioWawa, Ontario
Wawa is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within the Algoma District. Formerly known as the township of Michipicoten, the township was officially renamed for its largest and best-known community in 2009....
, Beam entered Kootenay School of Art (1971). He went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...
in 1974, and entered into post-graduate studies at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
, (1975–76). He left the University of Alberta over a dispute about his thesis on native art, and returned to Ontario.
Early work
The direction of Carl Beam's visual style was firmly established by the late seventies. In 1979 Beam met and married his wife, Ann Beam. "In developing his work over the years, Beam has been accompanied by his wife, Ann, herself and artist and a former teacher at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Often they have worked as collaborators". At this time he incorporated multiple photographic images onto a single picture plane. "He disregarded the illusory deep space of Renaissance depiction, in favour of a flat tableau, where a dialogue of multiple images could take place". At this time his photographic imagery was achieved primarily via screen process, photo-etching, PolaroidInstant film
Instant film is a type of photographic film first introduced by Polaroid that is designed to be used in an instant camera...
instant prints, and a solvent transfer technique also used by Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
.
Living in the Southwestern United States
In 1980, Beam and his family, Ann, and daughter Anong, moved to Arroyo Seco, New MexicoNew Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
to live and work. "We developed a dialogue together in everyday living, politics, world events, ceramic technique, painting, and all things art, that would continue for the next 26 years". Said Beam of the time "It was in the southwest years later with Ann and Anong, who was a baby, that I saw my first Mimbres bowl, or rather a cupboard full of Mimbres bowls in a gallery on the square in downtown Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, New Mexico. Some were completely intact, some had been restored, but all shared a bold adventurous design. When I discovered they were done 1,000 years ago, I was completely surprised." Beam and his wife Ann exhibited their ceramic work together in The Painted Pottery of Ann and Carl Beam at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology is an anthropology museum located on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The museum was founded in 1932 as the Museum of Anthropology of the University of New Mexico, becoming the first public museum in Albuquerque...
, University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
, Albuquerque, NM.
Ceramic Works and Pottery
Beam minored in ceramic pottery at the Kootenay School of Art. Despite having received top notch training, he found he lacked the ability to express himself as compared to with canvas or paper. Beam abandoned pottery as an art form but only temporarily. Years later in 1980 while living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Beam again became interested in handmade pottery via his exposure to Santa ClaraSanta Clara Pueblo, New Mexico
Santa Clara Pueblo is a census-designated place in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 980 at the 2000 census. Santa Clara Pueblo was established about 1550....
pottery and Mimbres bowls as were made by the Anasazi who lived in the area centuries before.
In the words of Ann Beam, “It was the Santa Clara blackwares that got us first” Beam became excited with the adventurous and bold designs he observed in these works. Eventually he met Rose Montaya who further exposed him to her techniques and those passed down from her mother. Having learned much from Rose, Beam was able to find his own clay and paint stones, fire outside with dried dung or wood, and experiment extensively – about 70% of the early works were lost due to trial and error – all works were hand made without a wheel, often unglazed and polished with a stone.
His Mimbres bowls were fabricated as a modern version of the ancient Anasazi ones - on the interior they were generally cream colored and quite smooth whereas the exterior appeared almost disregarded and less important (see Figures 1 and 2). Having studied all available exemplars found in museums, art galleries, shops, books, and otherwise, Beam’s contemporary versions were largely influenced by the materials and sophisticated art dialogue present in the Anasazi works he saw. Also in the Anasazi tradition, Beam’s bowls typically featured a bold design around the rim with his own unique images placed in the center. The result of his and Ann's early work was an exhibition in 1982 entitled “The Painted Pottery of Ann and Carl Beam” at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology is an anthropology museum located on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The museum was founded in 1932 as the Museum of Anthropology of the University of New Mexico, becoming the first public museum in Albuquerque...
of the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
in Albuquerque, with other shows to follow later.
Beam preferred the Mimbres bowl because it was a form conducive to his creative expression: “Finally, one form I could use to be absolutely creative in … the hemispherical quality of a large bowl still excites me like no cup, tea pot, plate or other clay shape can do…it is a universe unto itself where anything can happen – the designs are limitless.”
Beam continued to work on and off in pottery, creating bowls, snake pots and other handmade creations almost always decorated with his designs and images. The raven
Raven
Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...
is featured prominently in many of his works – “Migwans”, Beam’s family name, means “feather” or “bird”. His works also feature news events (such as the Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
) or self portraits or the shaman figure and family, a theme often returned to (seen in Figure 1) Beam also shared the techniques learned and developed with others including his cousin David Migwans, now an accomplished artist living in M'Chigeeng First Nation
M'Chigeeng First Nation
M'Chigeeng First Nation, also known as West Bay, is an Ojibwe First Nation in the Manitoulin District of Ontario, Canada. Total registered population as of September, 2007, was 2251 people, of which their on-reserve population was 882...
, Manitoulin Island
Manitoulin Island
Manitoulin Island is a Canadian island in Lake Huron, in the province of Ontario. It is the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world. In addition to the historic Anishinaabe and European settlement of the island, archeological discoveries at Sheguiandah have demonstrated Paleo-Indian and...
.
Return to Canada
Although he had achieved a level of success in the United States, with art dealers in both TaosTaos
Taos can meanPlaces*Taos Pueblo, a Native American pueblo, Tua-tah*Taos dialect, a dialect of the Tiwa language*Taos County, New Mexico, United States*Taos, New Mexico, a city, the county seat of Taos County, New Mexico...
, and Santa Fe, Beam returned to Canada, where he felt his work had an important contribution to make. "A return to Canada in 1983 at first meant no change in format: one ceramic work by Beam of a shaman family, in the collection of the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford, Ontario, has the central image Beam favoured in New Mexico, though now one that represents his current situation. Here a shaman figure holds the hands of a figure to either side, likely a veiled reference to his wife, Ann, and his daughter, Anongonse, born in 1980." The family moved to Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...
, and in 1984, Beam was commissioned to make an art work for the Thunder Bay Art Gallery
Thunder Bay Art Gallery
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is Northwestern Ontario's primary art gallery specializing in the work of contemporary First Nations artists. It is located on the campus of Confederation College in Thunder Bay....
. He titled the piece Exorcism. This became part of a "breakthrough exhibition" for him, which had a catalogue, and was titled Altered Egos the Multi-media Artwork of Carl Beam. It was curated by Elizabeth McLuhan. Living in the east end of Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...
, Beam created an early set of large format etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
s, consisting of nine prints. There are many signature images in this print collection, which Beam later used to form the image backbone of his iconic work The North American Iceberg. This work was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...
, making Beam the first artist of Native ancestry to have his work purchased into the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...
as contemporary art.
Mature Style
By the mid-eighties, Beam was working with new techniques for incorporating photo-imagery into his work. He utilized a heat transfer technique learned from fellow artist Ann Beam, with his work on paper and Plexiglas. He also began working with photo emulsion and mixed media on paper and large scale canvas works. The works contained various juxtapositions of imagery from the spiritual, the natural, and political world, and incorporated his own poetic inscriptions and math equations. "My works are like little puzzles, interesting little games. I play a game of dreaming ourselves as each other. In this we find out that we're all basically human... My work is not fabricated for the art market. There's no market for intellectual puzzles or works of spiritual emancipation"The Columbus Project
The subject matter of his work turned toward the rapidly approaching 500th anniversary in 1992 of Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, and his arrival in North America. He found in this event, a rich source for a discussion on the nature of culture, as well as revisions and versions of history. He created at this time,(1989–1992) a body of work entitled The Columbus Project. Its first stage had exhibition venues in Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough, Ontario
Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in southern Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres northeast of Toronto. The population of the City of Peterborough was 74,898 as of the 2006 census, while the census metropolitan area has a population of 121,428 as of a 2009 estimate. It presently ranks...
at both ArtSpace (curated by Shelagh Young), and also the Art Gallery of Peterborough
Art Gallery of Peterborough
The Art Gallery of Peterborough is a free admission, non-profit public art gallery in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, a registered charity that depends on the support of its members. It was founded in 1974 by an independent board of volunteers. In 1977 it was given the Foster House by the City of...
. The second phase of the Columbus Project was an exhibition at The Power Plant
The Power Plant
The Power Plant is one of Canada’s leading public galleries devoted to contemporary art, located in Toronto, Ontario at Harbourfront Centre. As a non-collecting art gallery, The Power Plant has presented new and recent work by numerous Canadian artists along with their international peers.Over its...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, curated by Richard Rhodes entitled the Columbus Boat. The exhibition continued on to venues in Italy and the United States. Beam's imagery for the Columbus Project was cross-culturally vast, and contained the primary images of Columbus, and Native peoples, but also images of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, and Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, Italian Christian iconography, diverse animal species, self portraits and technology (stop lights, rockets). There were two sculptural elements, Voyage a partial reconstruction of the Santa Maria
Santa María (ship)
La Santa María de la Inmaculada Concepción , was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa.-History:...
, and the Ampulleta, a 6 feet (1.8 m) hourglass, with one obstructive stone within the sand, as well as several installations, and a video performance of Beam in the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, making a representational graveyard on the beaches where the landing could have taken place.
In 1992 Carl Beam and Ann Beam built an adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
house on Manitoulin Island
Manitoulin Island
Manitoulin Island is a Canadian island in Lake Huron, in the province of Ontario. It is the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world. In addition to the historic Anishinaabe and European settlement of the island, archeological discoveries at Sheguiandah have demonstrated Paleo-Indian and...
. "Their adobe house became to a certain extent, a large scale project which evolved naturally out of their earlier experiences with Native American pottery and the building vernacular of the American southwest." Their life experience was incorporated in his exhibition Living in Mother Earth, and her exhibition Sub-division Suite/Earth Builder's Narrative.
The Whale of Our Being
Beam entered the new millennium with the body of work entitled The Whale of Our Being, in this work "Beam examines the calamitous moral fallout from what he perceives as a profound spiritual absence in contemporary society, symbolized by a great whale of primordial proportions". Featuring large photo emulsion works on canvas, constructions, large scale paper works, and ceramics. "Compared to earlier work, The Whale of Our Being exhibits a positively baroqueBaroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
complexity, a dizzying assortment of references, sometimes printed in overly saturated, fluorescent colour. Mystery, for instance, is pink-Day-Glo-coloured pink. The colour in Summa ranges from Day-Glo yellow-green to orange; the images from Einstein and the Hubble Telescope, and astronaut, and Sitting Bull to and image of the First Nations, and more besides." His imagery had become vast and all inclusive, in The Whale of Our Being "He re-examines the media construction of violence and infamy and the public fascination with celebrity". Said Beam at a panel discussion for the Beyond History exhibition in 1989, "If an artist has a legitimate premise, there is nothing which isn't within their field of enquiry".
He often said "the natives, smart people"
Crossroads
His last body of work was in process until the time of his passing in 2005. It was titled Crossroads from the blues song by Robert Johnson. The work included images of pop stars, gangsters, scientists, native leaders, politicians, writers and poets, musicians (Robert Johnson, Bob DylanBob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
, Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
, John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
), TV personalities (Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart is an American business magnate, author, magazine publisher, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she has gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, and merchandising...
), animals, and birds. He had completed Plexiglas works, and 22"x30" paper works for Crossroads and was in the middle of a suite of etchings at the time of his passing.
Carl Beam received the Governor General's Award for Excellence in Visual and Media Art in 2005.