Rik Freeman
Rik Freeman was born in Athens, GA in 1956, and began his professional career as an Artist/Muralist in Washington, DC in 1989, where he has painted numerous murals throughout the metropolitan area, and in 2011 completed Learn from the Past for H. D. Woodson High School, and Knowledge, commissioned by DC Public Libraries for the new Dorothy I. Height Library. Some of his more prominent commissions are Shaw Rhythms, in 2003 for the new Washington Convention Center Washington, DC and Arl@200, in 2002 at the Arlington County Courthouse Arlington, VA.
While known more for his public commissions, Rik has a steady exhibition history Of his works on canvas, having been featured in numerous group shows in galleries, Museums, and Cultural centers. Including The Smithsonian's Anacostia Museum of African American Art, The Sumner School Museum, and HR-57 Center for the Preservation of Jazz and Blues, both in Wash; DC. In May of 2011 Rik's critically acclaimed series of primarily large scale oils "The Chittlin Circuit Review", which is based on the early history of Blues music and the culture that created it, finished a 3 Year, 8 Venue, 7 State Tour, geographically ranging from the Schmucker Gallery at Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA in the North to The Smith Robertson Museum, Jackson, MS , and King Tisdell Cottage in Savannah, GA in the South.
Rik is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, most recently with a Residency at Instituto Sacatar, Itaparica Brazil, which will begin in the Fall of 2011. Also in 2011 Rik was included in the first edition of "100 Artists of Washington, DC", by F. Lennox Campello, Schiffer Publishing. He has received merit based fellowships from The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund, Wash; DC. , The George Sugarman Foundation, Novato, CA, several from The DC Commission on the Arts, and in 1994 was nominated for an Outstanding Emerging Artist Award.
Rik's work is included in many private and public Collections. He lives and maintains his studio in Northeast Washington, DC, and attended The University of Georgia in Athens, GA and Savannah State College in Savannah, GA where he majored in painting.
