Still Life - Jumboo-Creast

Still Life

Artist Portrait

Jeffery Beckham Jr. is CEO of Chicago Scholars, a nonprofit that helps first-generation and low-income students get into college and land jobs when they graduate. The 40-year-old ex-tech worker also does social justice work, leads youth Bible studies and recently got into painting. He opened a gallery, 3262 Media Studio, last month in Bridgeport, where he lives.

Going from tech to nonprofit work isn’t a traditional career path. Was that always in the cards?

I never would have expected that I would be leading a nonprofit. I used to tell everybody that I was going to be the Black Bill Gates. That was always my thing. Whatever company I’m going to build, it’s going to rival Microsoft.We did a lot of work with all of the churches. We did the whole rebranding process for Trinity United Church of Christ after the Obama/Jeremiah Wright thing in 2008. We created a new website, new content, a new logo. We built a blog and a YouTube channel.

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The exit from the wedding ceremony is also called the “send off”, and often includes traditional practices, such as the newlyweds and the wedding party.

Does being a first-generation college student drive your work?

I literally am our scholar. I went to school, first in my family. I picked the University of Missouri because I visited on a warm winter day. It was 60 degrees in Missouri but it was minus 10 in Chicago. Got into Princeton. Mizzou gave me a full ride academically, but I picked it because of the weather. Chicago Scholars helps people pick the right school from a myriad of factors. Not the weather.

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Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.

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Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.

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How did you get into painting? I had a friend pass away from an aneurysm. Our last conversation was around how to manage stress. As I get older, basketball and running every day isn’t great for the knees. Art was something I always wanted to try. He said, ‘You should do it.’

For two straight years, the Phillies have used their first-round pick on a high school arm. They can now dream about pairing Painter with Mick Abel, last summer’s No. 15 pick. Abel is pitching well at low-A Clearwater, throwing a fastball that touches triple digits. Like Painter, he’s years away from the majors.

Creative
83 %
Designs
85 %

How did you get into painting? I had a friend pass away from an aneurysm. Our last conversation was around how to manage stress. As I get older, basketball and running every day isn’t great for the knees. Art was something I always wanted to try. He said, ‘You should do it.

The first piece was really bad. I was doing acrylic abstract stuff. YouTube taught me 90 percent of what I know. As I stuck with it, I got better. I have more than 900 pieces of artwork across the globe, in places I’ve never been. Germany, Poland.