Arts

—Tom W. Freeman

*****

Painter Tom W. Freeman stands in his suburban Bel Air studio surrounded by dozens of pieces in various stages of composition. Outside is a tall flagpole flying Old Glory, with a blue banner unfurled beneath emblazoned with “Don’t Give Up The Ship” in white letters, a replica of the flag flown from the USS Niagara during the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812.

Those immortal words are hitting home right now for the self-taught, self-made master of watercolor. After a hard-fought battle of his own against cancer, Freeman recently received a clean bill of health, and he’s now going stronger than ever.

A native of Michigan but a resident of the Baltimore area since he was 12, Freeman joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1970. After transferring from the Marines to the Army, he left military service in 1977 and embarked on what he hoped would be a career in art.

Persistent visits to the offices of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine led to his introduction to Carl Evers, still considered by Freeman to be the real master of their specialty: detailed maritime scenes rendered in watercolor.

Evers told his new disciple to observe the art carefully and “that I would figure it out on my own,” Freeman remembers, debuting himself in February 1977 on the Proceedings cover.

Freeman soon garnered a reputation nearly as much for his painstaking research as for what he calls his God-given artistic talent.

Aside from the hardware and people he depicts on canvas, he also vividly portrays the sea, the sky, and geological and architectural backdrops that put his subjects in context. His art has graced book covers from the nation’s largest publishing houses and has appeared frequently in magazines, from Popular Mechanics to TV Guide.

While his bread and butter is still commissions from defense contractors and high-circulation publishers, Freeman’s appreciation for his adopted home state is nowadays commanding a large measure of his attention. He’s already presented artwork to world dignitaries—from U.S. presidents to the Pope—but he’s shifted part of his focus locally, to a series of vignettes titled “The Chesapeake Bay Collection.”

The series features limited-edition prints of diverse subjects with a Free State connection, including Naval Academy midshipmen disembarking from the steamboat Emma Giles at Tolchester Wharf in Annapolis and a piece titled “The Fisherman,” featuring two bay icons, an osprey and a rockfish, the majestic bird of prey living out the food chain in stunning fashion. Half of the proceeds from these prints go to the Oyster Recovery Partnership, dedicated to restoring the depleted Chesapeake oyster population.

Freeman’s other major project at the moment is an ambitious piece for the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Set to be the focal point of its visitor center, the artwork will portray, in large format and excruciating detail, Japanese aircraft attacking Battleship Row the morning of December 7, 1941.

Also now on Freeman’s easel is a tribute to President Barack Obama, the fifth commander-in-chief to be so honored. Connecting Obama’s hometown and his birthplace, the artist is depicting the cruiser USS Chicago in Hawaii during the ship’s 1931 shakedown cruise, with the Aloha Tower in the background. But, Freeman says, “I’m going to start over. The clouds just aren’t right.”