Born in Los Angeles in 1947, I began to doodle immediately and have not stopped since. In kindergarten I gained peer recognition for my lamb collage with its three black hooves and a pink one amid a wild smudge of cotton. In first grade, my teacher expressed concern to my parents about a dark watercolor of a dead tree I painted.

In college at San Diego State University, I discovered poetry and by my junior year was publishing poetry in national publications of some renown. This earned me a fellowship to the University of California, Irvine's graduate program in creative writing, where I earned my MFA.

After Irvine, over a span of 14 years, I taught poetry and creative writing at such Institutions as UC Irvine, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, San Diego State University and Santa Monica College.

In 1980, I left teaching and applied my artistic bent to becoming a commercial artist and marketing specialist. I founded a marketing/public relations agency, Beck Ellman Heald, in 1986. I have lived in San Diego since 1980 and I currently reside in Carmel Valley, just east of Del Mar, with my wife Beverly. We have three children: Elizabeth, Matthew and Arianna, and two grandchildren, Skylar and Lauryn.

In addition to private and corporate ownership, my art has appeared in galleries in San Diego, Palm Desert, Santa Cruz and Hawaii.

Donor Organizations:

Children’s Hospital and Health Center San Diego
High Tech High San Diego
Center for Children Autism Society of America
Chabad Center of University City
MS Society
Hadassah Hospital, Israel

Galleries/Studios

Ellmanart Studio, San Diego
Mixtures, San Diego
Munro Gallery San Diego
Santa Cruz Art League
Haleiwa Art Gallery, Honolulu
California Foundation of International Global Arts