Wellington, Maine - Maine artist Bernard T. Beckman died peacefully on July 19, 2026, three days after his 89th birthday.
Artist, teacher, wanderer, and lifelong learner, Bernie created art that exhibited not only his technical skill, but that also demonstrated his unique vision of every aspect of form and design, together with his strongly individual sense of color. Throughout a lifetime of painting, printmaking, and teaching, he explored nature, portraiture, abstract art, philosophy, religion, and the joys and sorrows of the human condition. Whether working in oil, acrylic, watercolor, linocut, or woodcut, his work was sometimes simply expressive, sometimes searching, sometimes ironic, and sometimes playful.
His work was exhibited in Burlington, Iowa; La Jolla, California; and throughout Maine, including Hallowell, Skowhegan, Harmony, Waterville, and numerous Rural Open Studio events. Bernie taught for a time at the University of Maine at Farmington before spending many years teaching in Skowhegan and from his Wellington studio, encouraging students not simply to learn technique, but to see more carefully — usually with just a soft-spoken word or two; Bernie was too humble to dictate to his students, preferring to let the world open up to them.
Nature was both sanctuary and inspiration. He spent hours wandering the woods around his home, usually accompanied by his devoted golden retriever, Mandy. Always learning, always curious, Bernie studied philosophy, religion, history, and music, even in his final years, and he traveled extensively throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, and the United States, always returning with fresh questions and new ways of seeing.
A lover of jazz and blues since childhood, Bernie was a friendly face at the Friday Night Jams at the Harmony Community Center. As the music played, he often sat quietly with a sketchbook in hand, drawing musicians, dancers, friends, and strangers — capturing fleeting moments of life's experience.
Bernie was born on July 16, 1937, in Burlington, Iowa, to Stephen and Helen Beckman. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves. His artistic path began when a perceptive high school teacher, May Hohlen, recognized his talent and urged him to pursue it. Bernie was also influenced by the art of an older relative, the visual artist Agnes Weinrich. He studied at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida, before continuing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. At the Institute's 1965 "Artists of Chicago and Vicinity" exhibition, his painting won the first prize Pauline Palmer Award. After graduation, he attended the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he studied under Cubist painter, Karl Knaths.
In the early 1970s, drawn by the ideals of the back-to-the-land movement, Bernie came to Wellington, Maine, purchasing 80 wooded acres and beginning a life that reflected his independent spirit. His first winter was spent in a 10-by-10 foot room he built himself. To some it might have seemed austere; to Bernie, it was plenty — a place from which to build a life of art, thought, and freedom.
Bernie married Maxine Draper on February 12, 1983, in Skowhegan, Maine. He was predeceased by his parents; and is survived by his wife; his sisters, Martha Walters of Blooming Prairie, Minnesota, Sarah Hasbrouck of Fayetteville, Georgia, and Rosemary Beckman Spillane of Burlington, Iowa; many nieces and nephews; and dear friends who became family, including Lisa, Amanda, Fawn, and his longtime friend and fellow artist, Tom Palazzolo of Chicago, with whom studied at Ringling School of Art and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The family would like to express its particular thanks to the staff of the Woodlawn Rehabilitation and Nursing Center Healthcare in Skowhegan, who made him comfortable in his final days.
A celebration of Bernie's life will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, those wishing to honor his memory are invited to make a donation to the Somerset Humane Society (Somerset Animal Shelter), a fitting tribute to a man whose affection for animals matched his generosity of spirit.