Meet Bea McCormick | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bea McCormick and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bea, what role has risk played in your life or career?
It’s kind of funny, and perfect, that I’m answering this question at this point in time – I recently put in my 2 weeks at my day job in order to have more time and space for my art practice. The moment I decided to leave the job, I felt simultaneously that it was a risk, a crux of my decision making for my adult life, and that I could not have made a different decision. As I become more and more aware of the economic ramifications of quitting a secure, almost full-time position, to pursue art, the feeling of exhilaration grows, as does my overt awareness of my personal monetary and social security. It feels like a risk because I gain a huge amount of responsibility not only for my personal welfare, but also towards my practice and work. I have a responsibility to make that decision count, to make art worthwhile of mine and others’ time & awareness. It was, to me at least, a necessary risk, one that I couldn’t skirt if I actually, tangibly, want to invest in art as the thing that I do, the thing I’m committed to.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Where to begin on this question. My art, primarily drawing and writing, bends in full color toward humor and philosophy, memory and grief, and hopefully, eventually, inexplicable resurrection. This art practice reminds me a bit of Sisyphus, his rock and hill, but I don’t find it to be torment (yet, and hopefully never haha.) When I think about drawing, what I want to do with it and what I want to learn from it, and about it, I realize more and more that I’ll die before I get it all done. And I’m not disappointed in that fact, but exhilarated, because it means my life will brim with discovery, of myself and others, full of things I don’t even think to dream of. I suppose, thinking of it this way, this art is my responsibility, my burden, my joy. As for what sets me apart from others, I personally don’t have an answer yet, but my desire is to create work which invokes irreversible change in a viewer, something which sticks in their consciousness, as unanswerable questions or unavoidable answers. I’m proud of the work which does this, and most excited to make the work that sharpens my ability to create this response. All that being said, I’m always most proud of simple pieces about my friends, about the time we’ve had, and moments together we want to remember.
I’m not quite professional, but I am committed to the bit haha. And becoming an artist, or deciding to be one, wasn’t easy or hard, but more compulsive than anything. It’s just what I do. When I went to college for it, I knew it was the only thing I could’ve done, the only thing I could do well enough to make it though classes, career, life. I’ve learned to expect myself to get frustrated, stuck, or angry more often than I think I will, and learned that as often as I set my art down, I will pick it up again. I’ve learned the artist is useless without the audience, the viewer, the other. I’ve learned which ink pens bleed highlighter ink, and which don’t. I’ve learned to never go into an art supply store with more than 20 bucks. It’s a whole range of things.
I’d like very much to be known as someone who wants to listen and understand you, I suppose.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh man, this is a great question for me. We would hit Sawtelle for Marugame Udon, for a bowl of their Kake or Nikutama, extra green onions, with a heaping side of shrimp tempura and a cold can on Ito En green tea. Triple Beam Pizza or Abbott’s Pizza for the best slices in SoCal (specifically the Fennel + Sausage and the Salad Pizza, respectively), Canyon Coffee for cold brew or latte, and Endorffine for the best espresso shot this side of the Pacific. Gjusta in Venice for a seasonal limeade and quite literally anything on their menu. As for what to do, the best thing is always the beach, Zuma or R. A. T. or Venice, and swinging by the best bookstores: Heavy Manners Library, Other Books Comics and Zines, Stories, and The Last Bookstore. Suay Sew Shop is also a necessity for upcycled textiles, patchwork pants, and sweet people. I’ve never been to the Observatory, so I’d probably drag someone there if it was up to me, pick a small gallery in the arts district to visit, and grab drinks at Bar FLores to round out the day.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
A true, endless, astronomical shoutout to Anyone who has taken the time and effort to interact with a work I’ve made, especially those who have talked to me about how they felt about it, how they were changed, how they felt it share the burden and wonder of life with them. And words don’t quite cover how loved and supported I have felt, and continue to feel, from my parents, Sarah and Blaine, my siblings, Ellis and Miriam, and those who I’ve been lucky enough to call friends and family, specifically Mel, Lauren, Jess, Namratha, Winnie, Molly, and Abby. And endless thanks to my professors from the Art Department, Dan, JP, Daniel, Astri, and Kari, for somehow getting me through undergrad, Covid, and a senior thesis exhibition.

Website: beammccormick.wixsite.com/my-site

Instagram: @honeybee.arts

Other: Email: bea.m.mccormick@gmail.com -> best way to contact!

Image Credits
Bea McCormick