Bird Series Takes Flight to Celebrate Life / August Exhibition Planned at City Art Gallery
Media Contact
Andie Freeman • andie@andiefreeman.com
(919) 924-4955
While the world was in turmoil, nature and wonder became a sanctuary to artist, Andie Freeman. In the summer of 2020, the artist started a new series of paintings that expanded on a theme meaningful to her, celebrating life.
As a still life oil painter, her approach had been rooted in life from the very beginning. Still life historically has also been called nature morte or dead nature so the tie to life and death has been historically a key feature of the genre. “My hope is that my still life work will transport the viewer to another time, possibly one that is within their imagination and not real. Its purpose is to connect them to others in history while also focusing on life. Blooming flowers, bright sunlight with changing shadows, moving objects, nature, living – not dead – these are important parts of each of my still life pieces,” Freeman shares.
Andie Freeman’s newest series featuring birds, brings these lively beings onto the panel with whimsical, abstracted backgrounds. The settings the birds find themselves in are inspired by being a child, raised, semi-freerange, playing in and around nature during most of her free time.
“As a kid, I played alone in the woods, and backyard, and I was happy creating a fantasy world where nature was my toy. I hid in spaces made by bushes and trees, climbed a tall pine in my yard and created a universe of my own, making art from leaves and twigs. These paintings bring that wonder onto the panel and envelope the little birds with settings that are busy and pattern oriented. I can reach inside these spaces and be transported to a place that is solitary, but not lonely, and full of joy. Birds inspire me as they are an extension of the child-self. They are inquisitive, curious and constantly busy, but purposeful in their movement. Through these paintings, I can reflect these traits into the home, bringing the joy and whimsy I remember as a child creating in the woods, onto the panel and into homes and museum spaces.”
The artist adds, “These birds are reminders of the connection we have with curiosity and nature, encouraging us to be stewards and care for our mutual home.”
The artist’s newest work will be featured in a group exhibition at City Art Gallery in Greenville, North Carolina in August, 2021. Some of the recent sold pieces are being offered as beautifully crafted pillows and meticulously printed giclee prints through the artist’s website.
Links for more information:
Website: www.andiefreeman.com
New Pillowcases: https://www.andiefreeman.com/shop/prints-gifts-more
City Art Gallery: https://www.cityartgreenville.com/
About Andie Freeman:
Andie Freeman’s oil paintings evoke movement representing time passage utilizing cherished and natural objects. Her paintings encourage meditation of the moment as a response to a rapidly changing lifestyle of modern communities. The work explores what it means to be human, and how we relate to each other and nature in our daily rituals.
Freeman (b.1971) earned her BFA from College of Charleston followed by a graphic design degree from Miami Ad School, Atlanta. Andie Freeman is the currant Artist in Residence for the Coastal Discovery Museum, and a 2019 Fellow in the Clark Hulings Fund’s Art-Business Accelerator Program. Her work can be found in public and private collections, including the City of Raleigh, the Coastal Discovery Museum of Hilton Head, and the publication, Richeson 75 Small Works 2016. She is a member of Oil Painters of America and Artspace in Raleigh, NC. She is represented by City Art in Greenville, NC and Camellia Art in Hilton Head, SC.
###
Gallery of images for Press Use: Contact for High Resolution Downloads
