Santee

A band of Native American men are proceeding on horseback. Front riders are wearing breastplates and carrying coup sticks.

(Luiseno/ Sioux) (1939-2019)-Robert Freeman was born on the Rincon Indian Reservation near San Diego, California in 1939. He attended high school in nearby Escondido. After graduation Freeman served in the U.S. Army in Korea. He attended Mira Costa Junior College and Palomar College in California, earning a bachelor’s degree and state teacher certification. Freeman worked as a teacher, author, lecturer, gallery owner, sculptor and painter.

He received numerous public mural commissions, including at the Los Angeles County Library and the California State Museum. His work is found in private and public collections, including the Heritage Center and the Sioux Indian Museum at Pine Ridge, South Dakota and the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.

Robert Freeman is cited in Patrick Lester's book, The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters and Clara Lee Tanner’s Southwest Indian Painting, as well as Peggy and Harold Samuels’ book, Contemporary Western Artists.