Siri Beckman

Siri Beckman Biography

Siri Beckman is a printmaker, who was born in Chicago, IL, and moved to Maine in 1975. Beckman was “called” to wood engraving quite by accident, and has been practicing this art form for over forty years. In 1985, she received a grant to study in England where she discovered one of the historic origins of wood engraving, private press books. This led to graduate school in 1990 at The University of Arts, PA, in Printmaking and Book Arts.

In 1997, Beckman received her first Artist in Residence at Acadia National Park, followed by five other residencies, many in the western United States (Badlands, Rocky Mountain, Hovenweep, Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde). These experiences awakened Beckman to color. Over the next fourteen years, Beckman moved through journal keeping in watercolor, painting with oils, to printmaking with multiple blocks.

Beckman’s early wood engravings are strongly influenced by her environment and daily life in the Maine fishing town of Stonington where she lived.

In 1990, she began an MFA program at the University of Arts in Philadelphia in Printmaking and Book Arts, receiving her degree in 1992. This led to several teaching jobs and a number of Artists Residencies in the National Park system.

Beckman has taught at colleges, community schools, Haystack Mountain School of Craft, and at her own studio. She recently moved to Bath, Maine, where she continues to maintain her studio.