"Grant Wood and Hollywood" by Dorothy Bunting Montgomery and Debbie Beilstein

Learn about a 1940 Hollywood art happening in which nine Associated American Artists created twelve paintings. That Hollywood commission was the largest of Grant Wood’s career and resulted in perhaps his least-known painting, Sentimental Ballad. Plus, hear from a relative of Grant Wood, Debbie Beilstein.

Dorothy Bunting Montgomery is a nonfiction writer, novelist, and a native of Iowa, whose stories capture the rhythms of place, and history. A blogger and podcast host, she brings a storyteller’s approach to her work, weaving human experience into narratives that resonate and give voice. She is the creator and host of Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Going Beyond Expectations, a podcast highlighting women in leadership and their professional growth beyond self-induced boundaries. Professionally, Dorothy has worked in Fortune 100 companies, including The Walt Disney Studios, in leadership and professional development, and is a certified executive coach. Her experience at Disney and other global organizations honed her ability to understand character, narrative, and audience. Her latest historical fiction novel, Stone Fruit, an Indie Book Award finalist in 2022, follows a journalist who reluctantly returns to her native Iowa to write about the death of Nan Wood Graham, the iconic face in American Gothic, only to confront and ultimately embrace her own sense of self.

Debra “Debbie” Beilstein is a native of San Diego, CA, and, through no effort on her part, became connected to Grant Wood! One of her dad’s aunts (Clara) was Grant Wood’s sister-in-law, married to Frank M. Wood, the eldest child of Francis and Hattie Weaver Wood. In 1960, Debbie’s widowed grandmother asked her sister Clara and brother-in-law Frank to move to San Diego and live with her. Frank was retired so they moved from Waterloo to San Diego. That’s where Debbie’s exposure to Grant Wood’s family began. She saw a household of Grant Wood originals, even getting in trouble for playing with a sculpture. She got to meet Nan Wood Graham and her husband Ed who had moved to California before the Woods. Nan was frequently a part of family celebrations and holidays as well as Frank and Clara Wood.

Debbie has a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies from the University of California, Irvine. Her career has been in Human Resources and employee Benefits working in multiple industries such as software, manufacturing and healthcare. Her interests include art, dogs, birds and crafts. Debbie maintains a Facebook page in honor of Nan Wood Graham and Frank M. Wood as a tribute to their legacy as Grant Wood’s siblings. She is grateful to have a family connection to the Woods as she has gained many friends due to the connection.