Local artist has the drive

By Michael Picarella pic@theacorn.com

Agoura Hills artist Helane Freeman believes her passion for art fuels her success and is the reason behind her perseverance in the field.

Freeman, 40, said she had a strong drive to become an artist at an early age.

"When I was 14 years old, my mom came home from the bank and said, ‘You know, I got the manager of the bank to put a little show on the walls for you,’" Freeman said. One wall contained her work. Each time someone bought an art piece, the bank would put the proceeds into Freeman’s savings account.

"I figured, if my mom could get a bank manager to show my art work knowing that I was a child of 14 years old, then I could take little slides of my paintings and drawings, make business cards, and go around to all the banks in Thousand Oaks and get more shows for myself," Freeman said.

Freeman did just that. She convinced a friend, who was 16 years old with a driver’s license, to drive her to all the banks in the area.

"I remember being so scared the first time I walked into a bank trying to pitch myself to somebody," Freeman said. Most of the banks allowed Freeman to show and sell her work.

When one particular bank turned Freeman away because she wasn’t a member of the Westlake Village Artists Guild—the bank only showed work of members—Freeman wasn’t too discouraged. She did some research on the guild and then joined.

The Westlake Village Artists Guild showed Freeman’s work at the bank that turned her away, and it showed her work in beauty salons and real estate offices.

"At that point, I was showing my work all around town," Freeman said. "That was from age 14 to 16."

Freeman also demonstrated her drive for art when she was a youth struggling with academics, she said. A private art teacher told Freeman about Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Freeman wanted to attend that school when she finished high school, but she knew she needed good grades to be accepted. She also knew the school would cost a lot of money.

"I said to my dad, ‘There’s this college that, if you really want to be an artist, you’ve got to go there.’" Freeman said. "It was really expensive. It’s a private school. And my dad said, ‘I’ll make you a deal. You get accepted in that school’—and he knew you got accepted based on a portfolio and good grades—‘and I’ll pay for it.’ At that point, I became extremely motivated."

Once at Art Center, Freeman found herself artistically tested. Instructors burned her work and threw coffee at it; one instructor asked Freeman if she ever considered a career selling Tupperware.

"Art Center is brutal," Freeman said. "The first three semesters they call boot camp. . . . I had one teacher pick the worst painting in class, had that person stand up, told them why it was the worst painting in the class, and then they had to pick the next worst painting in the class."

Freeman said that type of critique process toughened her up.

"But art was something I’ve always wanted to do with such a drive and such a passion that there is nothing that could deter me from doing it," Freeman said. At school she was tested, one might say, to see how passionate she was about art.

Freeman was the youngest student in her class. She graduated at the age of 21 with honors.

Freeman still finds tough and discouraging times in her work, even as an accomplished illustrator.

"As an artist, I have this built-in insecurity that my work is never good enough and that it can always be better and there are always people out there that are better than I am and better suited to do the job," Freeman said. "There’s a lot of insecurity, I think, every time I create. It’s kind of a dance that I do. But I use that adrenaline and insecurity to create. It’s sort of part of the catalyst of creation."

When Freeman runs into a creative block, she said she does more research about the subject matter she’s working on.

"If I can’t come up with an idea, then that means I don’t have enough information about what I’m trying to design."

Art will most likely continually test Freeman. But history has proven that her drive will get her through tough times.

"Art is a passion and it’s a love," Freeman said. "It’s something I need as much as the air that I breathe. It truly is."