Ross Palmer Beecher

(American, born 1957)

Ross Palmer Beecher is a Seattle-based mixed media artist. Her sculptural artworks are often composed as quilts and constructed of recycled materials. She describes her work as inspired by folk-art and "the joy of resourcefulness that has become a way of life."

Beecher grew up in the Northeast U.S. She studied painting, printmaking, and illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). In 1978, she moved to Seattle and began making traditional quilts to relieve her homesickness for the Northeast. In 1993, Beecher started managing the art therapy program at the Bailey-Boushay House for patients with AIDS in Seattle. She continues to be part of that program and it informs her own art practice. Her artworks are featured in museum collections including the Seattle Art Museum and Portland Art Museum. She received the 2020 Twining Humber Award for lifetime artistic achievement.

You can watch a short video about Beecher's art practice made by the Washington State Arts Commission in 2008 with support from the American Masters Program of the National Endowment for the Arts.