From Boardroom to Junkyard
updated July 28th, 2008
Brandon Beach ditched a 150 thousand dollar per year job to rummage through trash heaps for materials to make art. Find out why he says the trade-off has been well worth the sacrifice.
 |
|---|
| Brandon Beach at the Salt Lake City Farmer's Market |
Brandon Beach uses junk headed to the landfill to make art and furniture. Clean cut, well spoken and not a speck of dirt on his clothing its hard to imagine Mr. Beach digging through garbage piles "dumpster diving" as he puts it, in search for his next great find.
Through imagination and ingenuity Beach turns old trade manuals and a broken desk into educational furniture. The piece I'm drawn to is a small desk, offering a beautiful collage, set to a post WWII era nuclear uranium mining theme.
Artistic Process
When he tells me this now beautiful desk all came from garbage piles headed to the landfill, I'm amazed. Beach says all the materials for this piece were found in two separate trash heaps. From one heap Beach found uranium prospecting trade journals featuring illustrations, photographs and diagrams from the 1950s. From another heap he found an old broken desk in need of some serious drawer repair. After repairing the desk and pasting on the images, Beach uses an acrylic-based non-toxic coating to seal the images into the desk. The final result is a smooth surface that will last for years.
Artistic Path
 |
|---|
| two headed fish detail on Brandon Beach's nuclear-age theme desk |
So how does a person become trained to be both an artist and carpenter? Beach's skills weren't acquired in a trade school or University. Beach's path to becoming an artist was anything but traditional. He says it was through a process of trial and error.
After graduating from American Fork High School, Beach and his family moved to Seattle. Beach was originally drawn to corporate world for the promise of a lucrative salary. He took a position as a wealth management professional. Eventually, Beach had the sales pitch and practice down and was giving seminars around the country making close to $150,000 per year.
Perhaps few can identify with Beach when he describes his dissatisfaction earning so much money traveling the country. However, offering seminars and selling wealth management products, he admits he didn't totally believe in-- Beach found that he had no time for anything besides work.
 |
|---|
| Brandon Beach chair |
For another year Beach kept the job with doubts about his direction in life, he says it was the money motivated him to stay on. However, after his boss was indicted for tax evasion he says he didn't want to be associated with that type of business anymore- so he quit.
With time on his hands and savings in the bank, Beach began doing projects for his home restoring old furniture into art. After his friends took notice and offered to buy his work he decided to turn his part-time hobby into a full-time career. Beginning with Seattle's craft trade shows and art markets Beach finally settled and found success in Seattle's Fremont Market eventually earning around $40,000 per year. The seventy-five percent pay cut might cause some to shutter, but According to Beach he has never looked back.
Eventually, Beach returned to Utah to join his family. Beach says that the Seattle to Utah art scene transition was difficult, but eventually Utahns like Washingtonians came to greatly appreciate Beach's artistic vision and craft. Beach also adds that every year is better than the last.
 |
|---|
| Collage element 1950s advertisement |
I ask Beach if his wife and family have been in favor of his decisions; he says his wife has been supported of him pursuing his artistic ability over more lucrative professions. Beach says the benefit of being available when his kids need him most, is an added incentive to being work-from-home artist.
If I were to judge his parenting by the way his daughter answers the phone, I must say he's doing a fine job-- his daughter is very polite.
Visit UtahStories.com all throughout the summer as we profile a new Farmers Market artisan or vendor each week. Also see our exclusive Sugar House & Downtown Salt Lake City in-depth reports.
