Joanna Beall Westermann was born in Chicago in 1935 to Lester Beall, a graphic designer. She was the wife of the sculptor H. C. Westermann. She studied at both Yale and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she graduated with her BFA in 1958. Beall Westermann’s work has been featured numerous institutional presentations, including exhibitions at Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1973; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1973; The School of the Art Institute, Chicago, 1976; UCLA University Galleries, Los Angeles; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Oakland Museum, California; and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University. During her lifetime, her work was also featured in exhibitions at Allan Frumkin Gallery, New York, 1960; Rolf Nelson Gallery, Los Angeles, 1968; James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles, 1977; and Xavier Fourcade Gallery, New York, 1980. Her work is held in the collections of the Smart Museum of Art, the University of Chicago and the Copley Foundation, New York. Beall Westermann died in Connecticut in 1997.