EDF59

Ed Freeman was born in Stevenage on 8th August 1959. Although born with shortened, flipper like arms and legs due to the drug Thalidomide, which was taken by his Mother during pregnancy. He was treated exactly the same as his elder brother and sister, with a lot of love and a bit of scolding, when needed. Ed attended mainstream schools, Pingreen Infants/Juniors and Barclay Comprehensive. Aged seventeen he went to Hereward College for disabled students, which, as he admits, was a bit of a culture shock. Throughout his education, only one subject held his interest, and that was art. The other subjects he confesses to not taking seriously, hence his original three - year course at college was abruptly shortened, to one! By experiencing both worlds, the disabled and non-disabled, this left him in good stead for creating his satirical cartoons in the monthly magazine, Disability Now.
He was encouraged to draw by his Father and brother, who were both quite adept at art themselves and says he cannot remember not drawing and it has always been his passion. Starting as a child with pencils and crayons, he progressed onto water colours, oils, pastels, acrylics and inks, always ending up with more paint on himself than the canvas due to his limited reach. Ten years ago he found the medium that he now loves, "computer graphics", because as he says "at last I can create art and stay clean".
Ed has had no formal training in art except for school and his only qualification in art is an 'O level'. He is self-taught, which he prefers, as he feels is it less restraining and gives him the freedom to be individual in his work. His style has changed many times over the years, and is still evolving. At the moment he is combining surrealism with comic book illustration and a touch of Frank Frazetta (his artistic hero).