Freeman, Jeff

Artist Statement
I have been doing wood turning since high school. I have always admired the beauty and feel of finished wood; it seems to convey a feeling of comfort and warmth. Wood is also very versatile; it can be used to make items that can be both beautiful and useful. Cutting or turning a piece of wood was like opening a present – you never knew what unique grain or color you might find inside.

I added intarsia to my wood repertoire in 1999. Intarsia is like stained glass, but uses different colors of wood to construct a picture. The word intarsia comes from the Latin word “interserere” and means “to insert”. I saw intarsia as a way to combine wood working with my love of jigsaw puzzles. It also presented me with the challenge of combining different wood colors and grain patterns to complete a finished piece of work.

I often choose wildlife as the subject for intarsia pieces. It just seems appropriate to use the natural colors of wood to match the natural colors of the animals in our world. I will occasionally use wood stains to add blues and/or greens to a piece, but only because there are no good natural green or blue colored types of wood.

About Jeff Freeman
Jeff Freeman began wood turning as a teenager. Woodworking was very much a family affair; his grandfather, uncle and father used juniper wood to make bowls, clocks and other items. After college, he moved to Oklahoma to work as a chemist. In the meantime, he started putting together a woodshop of his own and began making various types of bowls, clocks and other wooden items in his spare time. He moved back to Central Oregon in 2000 and continued to work with wood, adding intarsia to his repertoire. He also continued wood turning, learning how to add stone and synthetic inlay to bowls and other wood items. He currently resides in Bend, Oregon.

Artist Code: JF