Don Freeman is featured in WABISABI
Article by Kevin Guyer:
To understand Don’s work and its influences it’s important to know where he started his life’s journey. “My Dad was in the navy and stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, where I was born. We lived in a nearby village with other Japanese families, many women wore traditional kimonos then. I vaguely remember celebrating Tango no Sekku flying paper fish kites.”
After a few years the Freeman family moved back to the U.S. and settled on Bainbridge Island, Washington, where Don lived in the same natural environment that informed the fabled, mid-century Northwest School of Art movement, but it was probably his father’s appreciation for Japanese culture that left a lasting impression, “My Dad designed our house to include Japanese elements – an entrance that he painted red; he adapted a Shoji screen design for a panel that flanked the front door. The yard was landscaped with bamboo, dogwoods, and evergreens. It rained a lot on Bainbridge so I spent a lot of time inside poring over his photo albums and re-watching the Super 8 films he shot while stationed in Yokosuka.”