66 | FEBRUARY 16 • 2023 

I

n an Oak Park home, there are two art 
studios. One belongs to Justin Bean, an 
abstract painter, and the other belongs 
to his wife, Emily Bean, a fabric sculptor. 
While his day job is with a nonprofit and 
hers is in advertising, their after-dinner 
activities take them into separate studios to 
work on current projects.
To his surprise, Justin recently was con-
tacted by the Art in Embassies program, 
established by the U.S. Department of State 
in 1963. He was asked to show one of his 
works in the U.S. embassy in Cameroon, 
and it already has been placed there.
The piece, titled Cosmic Shield, has 
bright acrylic colors and was completed on 
canvas. 
“The request to show this painting was 
really unexpected,
” Justin Bean said. “I 
got an email very much out of the blue 
from a woman who works for the Arts 
in Embassies program. She asked if I was 
interested in participating and, at first, 
I was a little skeptical because there’s so 
much spam email out there. 
“Then I noticed she had a government 

address, and I had heard about the pro-
gram. I said I’
d certainly be interested, so 
we set up a phone call and I got to speak 
with her.
” 
Apparently, the woman had been looking 
online to gather resources, and she came 
across Bean’s website and reached out. 
“This is the first time my work has been 
exhibited by an agency such as this,
” he 
said. “I’ve shown paintings in galleries and 
businesses. Other than appearing with a 
friend living in Toronto, it is the first time 
my work has been hanging out of the 
country.
“I like that abstract work is not tell-
ing you to feel a certain way or interpret 
the work in a certain way. It very much 
becomes about the material itself and what 
you’re seeing in front of you. You step back 
and look for things that are referenced. 
“It will still draw comparisons with 
things you see about you in everyday life. 
That is part of the process, but it doesn’t 
mean there is something represented there. 
It becomes a way of getting at ideas that are 
abstract — the way your mind works with 

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“I WANT TO MAKE 
VISUAL WORK THAT IS 
COMPELLING, DRAWS 
PEOPLE IN AND GETS 
THEM TO DO THEIR 
OWN ANALYSIS ABOUT 
WHAT THE WORK SAYS 
TO THEM.” 

— JUSTIN BEAN

Local artist’s work chosen to hang 
in the U.S. embassy in Cameroon.

A Cross-Cultural 
Exchange

ARTS&LIFE
ART

Cosmic Shield, the work by 
Justin Bean now hanging at the 
U.S. embassy in Cameroon.

