Faith Andrews Bedford was born in Salem, Massachusetts at the close of World War II and was raised in a little village in Illinois. But, each August the Andrews family returned to New England to spend the month at her grandparents’ summer home on Cape Cod Bay. These two worlds–a small village in Illinois close to her father’s mother and a summer by the sea at the home of her other grandparents–form the background for many of Faith’s stories. Together with her two sisters, Ellen and Beth, Faith enjoyed a simple life, close to the harmonies of nature full of the sorts of games and adventures, experiences and discoveries that make up the life of children.
In addition to being an essayist and short story writer, Faith Andrews Bedford is also an art historian and noted authority on Frank W. Benson. She has written and lectured extensively on the artist and has contributed the lead essays for a number of catalogues including: the Benson retrospective at the Berry-Hill Gallery in New York City in l989, the exhibition of Benson’s sporting art at the Ward Museum in Salisbury, MD in 1996 and the Peabody Essex Museum’s show “Frank W. Benson: American Impressionist” in 2000 for which she was the guest curator.
Her books on Benson include the biography, Frank W. Benson: American Impressionist (Rizzoli, 1994) and The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson (David R. Godine, 2000). She supplies appraisals and authentications to both auction houses and private galleries. She is also the advisor to the Vose Gallery Benson catalogue raisonné project. Her articles on the artist have appeared in numerous magazines.
