Reviews of Faith's Art History Books:

The Sporting Art of Frank W. Benson (2000, David R. Godine)

Maine Antiques Digest:

This handsomely produced, definitive book is replete with reproductions of paintings, etchings, and lithographs of waterfowl and related works of Frank W. Benson, a pivotal artist of the American Impressionist movement. Benson's accurate depictions of birds have commanded high prices, and rightly so. This book will be an invaluable addition to the libraries of art collectors. Faith Andrews Bedford gathered diverse and firsthand source material. She covers Benson's career by melding his primary interests: his family, his art, and the sporting life, not to mention his lifelong passion for birds. By interlacing her text with commentary from interviews with Benson's family, diaries, letters, photographs, and historical articles, she creates a lively, immediate flavor.

Wilderness Adventures Books:

This is a gorgeous book that features full color oil and watercolor sporting paintings showing waterfowl and upland bird scenes, along with salmon and trout fishing paintings. Benson was also famous for his etchings and dry points. This book contains reproductions of many of them. These images are accompanied by Bedford's account of Benson's life and his love of hunting and fishing and how it is reflected in his magnificent sporting art.

Gray's Sporting Journal:

This lavishly and tastefully illustrated book offers examples of every aspect of Benson's sporting art-oil colors from his earliest realism to his most serene impressionism, the many watercolors that unlocked for him the beauty of salmon fishing, and his brilliant treatments of birds and waterfowling in drawings, dry points, washes and the well-known etchings. These images are gracefully accompanied by Faith Andrews Bedford's equally meticulous prose. She offers a perceptive account of Benson's love of fishing and hunting and, without getting distracted by art criticism, relates his life afield to life as an artist: "There have always been those who recorded the birds of the air and the animals of the earth because they wanted to capture forever the beauty of their movement, the designs they made against the sky, the sea and the landscape. Frank W. Benson was one of these." It almost goes without saying that the publisher, David R. Godine, has seen to the quality Benson's work deserves.

Frank W. Benson: American Impressionist (Rizzoli, 1994)

Atlantic Monthly

Ms. Bedford, the artist's great‑granddaughter, writes well of his work as teacher, painter, etcher, and watercolorist, and sums up his career neatly."Each time he moved in a new direction with his art, success followed him, creating a demand for his work" which" continued until the day he died and beyond. The book's numerous illustrations are likely to extend that demand--probably with no hope, for nobody who has a Benson is likely to part with it.

Publisher's Weekly

[Benson's] art remains vibrant and this beautifully illustrated biographical study showcases his finest work. Bedford, the artist's great‑granddaughter, sensitively probes her ancestor's Yankee roots in Salem, Mass., his formative Paris years...and his daring break from the reigning art establishment.

Down East Magazine

Frank W. Benson: American Impressionist...provides the fullest account to date of the artist's time on North Haven, and of the key role Maine played in the shaping of his aesthetic.

Victorian Sampler Magazine

In this handsomely designed and copiously illustrated volume...Frank Benson appears singularly blessed...Benson's art [has] an inner light as incandescent and sparkling as the evocation of sunlight for which he is renowned.

Duxbury Clipper

Bedford's text, vastly superior to that usually found in lavish art books, is a beautifully realized biography of Benson. Going beyond facts and dates, she intersperses family anecdotes within the framework of scholarly assessment so that we get to know the man and the artist.

The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia

Bedford...a prodigiously published author of non‑fiction, has written an exhaustively researched and detailed account of [Benson's] life and work within the framework of the entire American Impressionist movement.

Reviews of Faith's Books--Essays:

Barefoot Summers (2005, The Sterling Division of Hearst Books)

The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia

Each essay ends on an uplifting note, followed by homespun information on how to create homespun items and memories. Instructive and inspirational add-ons...There's more: the joy of capturing fireflies and going fishin', and a lovely essay on the benefits of taking a walk with a child . . .There are lots of heart-warming essays in "Barefoot Summers," along with reflections and ruminations...I found the book to be..."perfect."

Sarasota Herald Tribune

Like Martha Stewart, the high priestess of chic domesticity, Faith Andrews Bedford knows a "good thing" when she encounters it, but her discoveries relate overwhelmingly to home and simple pleasures. . . Bedford acknowledges that only in art and museums does time stand still, but with her own memories, she stirs up those of others.

My Shelf.com

Faith Andrews Bedford's personal snippets of childhood, motherhood, and grandparenthood are so heartwarming and pure that I found unbidden smiles gracing my lips as tension drained from my shoulders. The author's easy voice transported me back through time to, among many other memories, Valentine's boxes, lemonade stands, snowball fights, and playing dress-up...Ms. Andrews Bedford further increases this book's worth by including instructions for simple and inexpensive activities that are sure to quell those "I'm bored!" outbursts...I believe parents, grandparents and caregivers will come to treasure Country Living Barefoot Summers: Reflections on Home, Family and Simple Pleasures. I certainly have!

Continuum

Barefoot Summers will be enjoyed by all generations. What a wonderful gift it would be for a young parent seeking a way to both carry on and create family traditions and rituals that both comfort and give a strong feeling of security. A parent of teens, weary of the consumerism ad celebrity adoration that is so pervasive in our world, will be reminded of the many ways to communicate to the next generation the wonder and beauty of the quiet pursuits and simple pleasures of life. For the grandparents, Barefoot Summers is a journey into the past that can bring to life a treasure house of stories about themselves and their children to be passed on to the grandchildren. Whatever our age or stage in life, for many who will read these engaging stories, the pen and paper will come out, the computer will be turned on, and we, too, may start to write our stories.