 After working at a variety of jobs, from construction work on the Toronto subway, to working as a millwright in Wawa, Ontario, Beam entered Kootenay School of Art (1971).He went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria in 1974, and entered into post-graduate studies at the University of Alberta, (1975–76).He left the University of Alberta over a dispute about his thesis on native art, and returned to Ontario.