Richard Freeman

Richard Freeman attended school in Leicester, and won scholarships to attend Lutterworth and Leicester College of Art. When he turned 18, he enlisted with the Royal Air Force, and was stationed in Northern Ireland, where he spent his spare time painting the landscape. Upon his release he began to work for an advertising agency, instead of his father's engineering firm, and continued to improve his style, taking evening courses. Freeman immigrated to Canada in 1955, attracted by the open space, and fulfilling a childhood dream. He settled in Ottawa, with his wife and daughter, working as a titling artist for a film company. However, they quickly moved west. They purchased a small piece of land, on which they raised horses. The scenery and lifestyle of the West deeply influenced Freeman, because they were what he had always been looking for.

Freeman's firsthand experiences lend reality to his pieces. His attention to light is what attracts viewers to his paintings and his deep understanding of line and perspective, shadow and light. Avoiding romantic cliches, Freeman paid close attention to the roughness of the rural West; and his pieces convey a sense of the discipline and strength needed in the work. They also convey a sense of freedom in the wide spaces and overwhelming landscape. His knowledge of anatomy, both human and horse, allowed for detail and accuracy in his figures. Freeman is the only Canadian founding member of the National Western Artists Association, in Lubbock, Texas, where he won an award for his work in 1982.