Painting history on canvas

Eighty-nine year old Leo Beauchamp of Walhalla, a native of Olga, N.D., always liked to draw and paint throughout his life, but it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that he decided to use his passion for art as a way to commemorate a little North Dakota history.

You could say Leo’s roots go deep in the town of Olga. Born and raised there, he faithfully attended Mass at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church. He was an altar boy until he was 13, and then transitioned to being a member of the church choir. Leo’s wife, Lenore, also a member of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, sang in the choir, and the two were married there in 1953. Their six children were all baptized and confirmed at Our Lady, and two of them were married there as well.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart has always held a warm place in Leo’s heart, even after its closure in 2005. His love for the old church helped to stoke his creative juices in his works of art.

“My painting passion has been buildings that mean something to me,” said Leo. “From a collection of old postcards, I ‘rebuilt’ my hometown of Olga as I remembered most of it in the 1940s. I call it ‘Olga, ND in Oil.’”

In the middle 1980s, a friend invited Leo for an afternoon of painting at her home. The Brush Bunch is an art group begun by a group of ladies who liked to paint but each painted on their own. They began meeting in the basement of the St. Boniface rectory in Walhalla, where Leo and Lenore eventually moved to in 1996. They are now parishioners of St. Boniface Church. The group still meets every Tuesday.

“It was an introduction to a passion I only felt but never pursued until now,” said Leo. “I joined the Brush Bunch Art club in 1996. I was the first male in an all-female group. I started with oil paint, and it is now my medium of choice. In 2018, I decided to paint churches in our area regardless of denomination. I have around 15 church paintings.”

The Brush Bunch held their 50th Annual Art Show in May 2021. This year the show is scheduled for April 30 and May 1 at the American Legion in Walhalla. If you attend, you’ll see many of Leo’s paintings of different churches around the diocese, as well as works from other members of the Brush Bunch.