Born and raised in Pennsylvania, McBeen met her contractor husband at Sonoma State, and has lived in Petaluma since 1980.

 

“We live in the house we built in 1987."

Family is very important to McBeen, and feedback from her family is what prompted her to place her pieces in galleries.

 

“I’ve been working with wire for over seven years and am inspired by many things,” she explains. “I’ll start with an idea, often take a photo for reference, make a wire frame of the right size, and then create a simple drawing of how the piece will look. I love working with different thicknesses of black wire because it creates the simplicity of a pen and ink drawing.”

​

“I started making pieces based on continuous line drawings, but quickly discovered that sculpting with wire is like dancing with a partner who leads you in different directions,” she says. 

 

“I love the simplicity of line that the wire draws,” McBeen says. “But most of all, I love the shadow image that the wire creates on the wall behind it. (As a result), the lighting and a light-color background are important." 

 

Although some of her pieces are “frameless,” McBeen often creates “things in a box,” by placing them in a wire frame.