Painting with Clay

Painting with Clay

Featuring Carl Beam (1943-2005), Ann Beam (1944-2024), Anong Migwans Beam, Riel Migwans Beam, and Lux Migwans Beam

Curated by Anong Migwans Beam and Elka Weinstein

Painting with Clay features ceramic works made by the Beam family from M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island. Carl (1943-2005) and Ann Beam (1944-2024) both had an interest in creating decorative paintings on pottery pieces, partially inspired by Carl’s lifelong search for Anishnaabe pottery. The Beam family’s creative legacy in ceramics continues through Carl and Ann’s daughter, Anong Migwans Beam, and her sons, Riel Migwans Beam, and Lux Migwans Beam. Anong’s lifelong practice of making paint with local natural materials springs from her parents’ practice in making paint and pottery on Manitoulin and in the Southwestern United States.

Painting with Clay walks viewers through three generations of pottery-making, some of which are inspired by the Mimbres and Ancestral Pueblo pottery that Carl and Ann encountered in the Southwest, where the family settled just after Anong was born. Recurring themes in the works are supported by family and archival photos, as well as illustrations from an unpublished children’s book by Ann Beam.

This exhibition is generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario.

ISBN: 978-1-928022-77-0