Bea Gold is a painter, woodcut artist, avid gardener, community activist, early childhood specialist, mother of 4 children, grandmother of 5 and great-grandmother of 1. Born in New Your City, she attended the Art Student's League under scholarship during her high school years and beyond. She relocated to California as a young adult, and has lived in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles for 36 years. Bea presently is a member of an international, on line wood-cut society and paints family portraits on commission. A leader in early childhood education, she is a retired Executive Director of a public service, non-profit agency serving families of young children with special needs. She has maintained her public service work since her retirement through serving on the boards of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council and the Griffith Park Adult Community Center Club.
In 2010 she completed a volume of 36 one page stories based on memories of her childhood in the 1930s and 40s. The stories are in the voice of the child and portray the experiences of a young, Jewish, first generation American girl growing up in old New York. Bea Gold combined her art background with her story-telling skills to create a beautiful coffee table book with an illustrative painting to accompany each story. Three sets of twelve story/painting combinations were shown in Los Angeles at art exhibits in 2008 and 2009 through the member organization The Silver Lake Art Collective. The complete set is presented here.