Tom Freeman

 Sadly, on June 16, 2015, Tom Freeman passed away leaving behind his wife and longtime business partner to manage his vast collection of artwork. Tom's love of history and translating it into his paintings were his greatest joys. Tom’s family will continue to honor his endeavors, by releasing new limited editions prints to the world from his collection. Since, Tom is no longer here to sign his prints you have the option of selecting a numbered print with no signature or a print signed and numbered by his wife, Ann. Each print includes a Certificate of Authenticity, and Ann has always signed these as Tom’s publisher.

Born in Pontiac, Michigan in 1952, Tom Freeman was the third child of five children from James and Doshia Freeman. The Freeman's lived in Michigan until Tom was 12 years old when the family moved to Baltimore, Maryland. Tom never had any formal art training and has always considered his talent as a God given gift. In fact school was of very little interest to him. Tom joined the U.S. Marine Corp Reserve in 1970. He later transferred from the Marine Corps Reserve to the regular Army. His military service extended from 1970 to 1977. His professional art career started when he left the military. He would visit the U.S. Naval Institute and would take samples of his work to them. Finally, Tom asked what it would take to get his artwork on Proceedings Magazine. A gentleman by the name of Dell Kaiser showed Tom the artwork of Carl Evers. Tom contacted Carl and to this day considers Mr. Evers the master of watercolors.

 "Carl was very supportive, he told me to look closely at the art and that I would figure it out on my own."

 Finally, Proceedings used one of Tom's paintings for their cover. This started Tom on the path of success. From there he started taking 35mm slides of his work and sending them to various book publishers. The first publisher to contact him and offer him a cover was G.P. Putnam & Sons.

 Since then Tom has worked with most of the large publishing houses such as Dell, Jove, Bantam, and Berkley. His work has been placed on porcelain plaques and plates for Franklin Mint and the Hamilton Group. Tom's artwork has been exhibited in many galleries Kirsten, Greenwich, Mystic, and the Grand Central Gallery. He has done work for the National Parks Service and many corporations through out the world. In 1986 Tom was asked to hang his original paintings in the West Wing of the White House. Currently, there are 8 original paintings hanging there along with several of his limited edition prints.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Tom produced a collection of 42 paintings now on permanent exhibit at the Arizona Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii. Tom completed 12 paintings, which were on exhibit at the Naval Museum in Washington, D.C. commemorating the 60th anniversary of the attack.

He has been featured in:

  • Readers Digest
  • Popular Mechanics
  • Boating
  • Yachting
  • Business Week
  • TV Guide
  • Accomplishments

One of Tom's paintings was donated to the State of Israel, it hangs in the Immigration/Clandestine and Naval Museum in Haifa.

 On April 10, 2002 Tom had the honor of giving one of his paintings to the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II in Vatican City, Rome. The painting is hanging in Pope Pius IX museum in Italy. Tom was awarded the Department of the Navy Superior Public Service Award on April 3, 2003. On September 3, 2003 Tom presented a painting to President George W. Bush depicting the President's landing aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. The painting was presented to him in the Oval Office.

Awards:

  • Gold and Platinum Ozzie Award (2003)
  • Best use of illustration for a single article.
  • Popular Mechanics Magazine The Hearst Corporation.
  • SILA award
  • Silver for Editorial Artwork
  • 42nd Society of Illustrators Los Angeles