About the artist…
Drawing on her strengths, skills, tenacity, and professional background, Alena Freeman is rebuilding her life after escaping domestic violence in 2018. Since then she has started her small business, Alena Freeman Fine Art, lost 15o pounds, returned to strength training, and continues to work closely with a trauma specialist to heal from the profound affects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Sharing her art and telling her story allows her a voice, to be seen and heard, after years of feeling silenced and shamed.
Alena was born in 1971 while her parents were on a road trip from California to Nebraska. Her mother went into labor in the Grand Canyon and barely made it to a hospital in time. This, Alena jokes, is why she has such a wandering, restless spirit. As a “military brat” she grew up on Marine Corps bases all over the US, spending most of her childhood in southern California, near the ocean. After spending most of the past two decades in the Chicagoland area, home is now Nebraska, on the wide open prarie, with the never ending wind.
She holds a the bachelor’s degree in Interior Design from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She comes from a long line of crafters and do-it-yourselfers, whose expamples of ingenuity, creativity and resourcefullness filled her with inspiration. Her first love has always been art and as a child she was obsessed with drawing unicorns and dragons. Over the years her creative pursuits have included sewing and pattern drafting, drawing, painting, jewelry-making, creative writing, singing, and playing the violin.
PTSD has been the greatest challenge and biggest blessing in Alena’s life. Art in various forms provided a way to cope during difficult circumstances and provided a healing path from the pain. This gave her the courage to pick up a paint brush, and life would never be the same! Her studio provides a comfortable, engaging and health-promoting environment from which she feels enabled to meet the ever-changing adventures of life… and make beautiful art. Alena’s colorful, playful, dynamic work stands in stark contrast to her life experiences and offer a glimpse of the transformative power of creativity. Art enriches. It communicates. It heals. Alena hopes that by sharing her artwork and her story that she may bring a bit of beauty, joy, and hope to the world around her.