Helena Beacham

A native of Pennsylvania, Helena Beacham lived in Bucks County for 57 years, becoming well known for her impressionistic paintings of people and for her sculpture. Beacham graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art and continued to study sculpture with Beatrice Fenton and painting with Arthur B. Carles. She exhibited in numerous local group and one-person shows, presenting paintings in oil and watercolor and sculptures in ceramics and wood. She won a gold medal for watercolor and first prize at the original juried show of the Art Alliance of Bucks County. She has also been recognized as an accomplished poet. Beacham's ability to render a subject's particular mood at a particular moment in time gives her works a unique, emotional character.

Education and Training
Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Moravian Academy, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Teachers and Influences
Studied sculpture with Beatrice Fenton and painting with Arthur B. Carles

Connection to Bucks County
A Bucks County resident from 1937 until her death in 1994, Helena Beacham exhibited locally at Upstairs Gallery, the Phillips' Mill Community Association, the Arts Alliance of Bucks County, and the Scofield Gallery in Doylestown. She lived in Lahaska.

Colleagues and Affiliations
Noble Beacham, husband and painter

Major Group Exhibitions
Plastic Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1949, 1958
Arts Alliance of Bucks County, Lahaska, Pennsylvania, 1978
50th Anniversary Retrospective Art Exhibition, Phillips' Mill, New Hope, Pennsylvania, 1979
Upstairs Gallery, Lahaska, Pennsylvania
Woodmere Art Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Scofield Gallery, Doylestown, Pennsylvania

Major Awards
Gold Medal, Plastic Club, 1949, 1958
Rose and Jacob Taube Memorial Prize, Plastic Club of Philadelphia
Walter Baum Memorial Prize, Plastic Club of Philadelphia
Gold Medal for Watercolor, Art Alliance of Bucks County, 1977
First Prize, Watercolor, Art Alliance of Bucks County, 1977

Affiliations and Memberships
Art Alliance of Bucks County
Upstairs Gallery Cooperative