Bruce Beasley
Born in Los Angles in 1939, Bruce Beasley is recognized as one of the most noteworthy and innovative sculptors on the West Coast. He began his art studies at Dartmouth College before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley art department in 1959. His timing was excellent: Berkeley was the epicenter of a revival in sculpture in the late 1950s, when Beasley joined Peter Voulkos, Harold Paris, and foundryman Donald Haskin to build the Garbanzo Works, a foundry in west Berkeley where they created major works in cast bronze and aluminum.
The Oakland Museum of California recently presented the first retrospective survey of Beasley’s work. The exhibition, covering more than four decades of his abstract sculpture, includes approximately 70 works in cast iron and aluminum, cast acrylic, cast and fabricated bronze and stainless steel. A 300 page monograph of Beasley’s work was recently published by the Oakland Museum, featuring many full color photos of his work over the last 35 years.