Freeman Dodsworth ’82 finds inspiration in light and shadow and purpose in the narratives he can capture in oil on canvas.
Writer, carpenter, helicopter pilot, small boat commander, businessman, and drone test pilot, Freeman Dodsworth ’82 has packed a lot into his life. However, no matter what he was doing or where he was, he always felt the urge to create, an itch that for much of his busy life he couldn’t scratch. It would take several decades and a radical change in art medium before he finally had the time, skill, and focus to express himself creatively.
Whether a creator is born or made is one of those nature-nurture conundrums we will probably never solve. Whatever the case, Dodsworth felt he was a creator from a young age, and by the time he was in high school, he “knew” he was going to be a writer.
“My great-grandfather, Joseph C. Lincoln, was quite a famous and best-selling author at the turn of the 20th century. He popularized warm-hearted fiction about Cape Cod sea captains, quite a specific genre,” Dodsworth explained. “His tales centered around these very eccentric retired sea captains on Cape Cod, sitting around the potbellied stove at the post office, you know, spinning yarns and the antics they get into.”
Lincoln wrote over 50 novels, some of which were made into movies. Dodsworth’s grandfather was also a renowned writer, writing features and editing for Time Magazine.
“Writing was kind of my family business,” he said. “I thought both those guys seemed pretty successful and pretty cool, so I would give writing a go.”
At Washington College, following what he considered a writerly trajectory, Dodsworth majored in English and was a regular at the Rose O’Neill Literary House, taking creative writing classes and attending the many readings by famous authors. He described himself, self-deprecatingly, as a “decent” writer.
Hush
Hush
The Last Word
The Last Word
The Quietest Moment
The Quietest Moment
After graduation, his portfolio of stories proved he was more than just a “decent” writer, and he was accepted into the University of Montana to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in fiction. In addition to the writing program, Montana appealed to him because, after growing up close to the Maryland shore, he wanted to experience living in the mountains. It did not work out as he expected.
“It turned out I can’t live in the mountains. After a period not being near water, it just became difficult for me,” he said. More significantly for his situation, he had also come to the painful realization that he wasn’t a writer. “I wanted to be a writer for all the wrong reasons, and I came to the conclusion that it probably wasn’t my path.”
He left the program after a year.
With his life’s plans upended, he returned to Chestertown and worked for a construction company renovating historic houses. He was a quick learner and went from laborer to carpenter’s assistant to carpenter. When the company needed a project manager, they chose him because they thought “a college boy” would be able to read blueprints.
“That’s the value of a liberal arts education,” he said. “It taught me to be comfortable with ambiguity. Read blueprints? Sure, I can try. It wasn’t like I was a genius or anything; it’s that my education meant I was comfortable not knowing what I didn’t know.”
As a project manager, he learned to appreciate the skills and on-the-job intelligence of the people who worked under him. “One of my first lessons in professional life was respect the people who work for you who have the real knowledge.”
Surprisingly, Chestertown reignited the creative fire he thought had been extinguished in Montana. Dodsworth had learned his carpentry skills under the tutelage of Terry Wolf, a skilled carpenter who became Dodsworth’s mentor and “drinking buddy.” As luck would have it, Wolf was also a well-known and established Eastern Shore painter who taught weekly painting classes. He suggested that Dodsworth sit in on these classes and learn how to paint.
Dodsworth had never been interested in painting, hadn’t taken any studio art classes while at Washington, and said he just took the classes to hang out with Wolf. He learned the basics of oil painting and composition, and as time went on, spent more time with Wolf and his wife, Pam, discussing art and working on his technique. He discovered that he loved painting and had a natural talent for it.
“[Wolf] showed me the ropes, taught me the basics and more, and the desire to paint had been born and stuck with me,” he said. If painting was opening up a whole new world for him, managing construction projects was limiting, and he needed a change. “Then I joined the Navy and disappeared.”
He signed up after a friend called him from Pensacola, where he was learning to fly for the Navy. The friend said it was great fun, sun and beach, and perfect for him. Dodsworth went straight to a Navy recruiter in D.C., did a quick aptitude test, and “within a week I was on a plane to the Pensacola Aviation Officer Candidate School.”
Thus began his career in the Navy. He got his wings and flew helicopters off little frigates and destroyers. Later he commanded a fleet of small boats defending coastlines, and later still he was in charge of ground logistics for a hospital boat providing cleft palate surgery for Central American children. He was in the Persian Gulf for Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, although he didn’t experience direct combat in either.
He spent 10 years on active duty and many more in the reserves. While in the reserves, he ran a construction company, and after he retired from the reserves, he became a contractor test-piloting drones for the Navy—these were helicopter-sized drones that could land and take off from ships.
Early in his career, Dodsworth had met and married his wife, Ellen, and had two children, both of whom are Washington alums—Emma Dodsworth ’21 and John Dodsworth ’22. By almost any measure, his was a successful and happy life, yet there was still that creative itch that had not been scratched.
After graduation, his portfolio of stories proved he was more than just a “decent” writer, and he was accepted into the University of Montana to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in fiction. In addition to the writing program, Montana appealed to him because, after growing up close to the Maryland shore, he wanted to experience living in the mountains. It did not work out as he expected.
“It turned out I can’t live in the mountains. After a period not being near water, it just became difficult for me,” he said. More significantly for his situation, he had also come to the painful realization that he wasn’t a writer. “I wanted to be a writer for all the wrong reasons, and I came to the conclusion that it probably wasn’t my path.”
He left the program after a year.
Hush
Hush
With his life’s plans upended, he returned to Chestertown and worked for a construction company renovating historic houses. He was a quick learner and went from laborer to carpenter’s assistant to carpenter. When the company needed a project manager, they chose him because they thought “a college boy” would be able to read blueprints.
“That’s the value of a liberal arts education,” he said. “It taught me to be comfortable with ambiguity. Read blueprints? Sure, I can try. It wasn’t like I was a genius or anything; it’s that my education meant I was comfortable not knowing what I didn’t know.”
As a project manager, he learned to appreciate the skills and on-the-job intelligence of the people who worked under him. “One of my first lessons in professional life was respect the people who work for you who have the real knowledge.”
The Last Word
The Last Word
Surprisingly, Chestertown reignited the creative fire he thought had been extinguished in Montana. Dodsworth had learned his carpentry skills under the tutelage of Terry Wolf, a skilled carpenter who became Dodsworth’s mentor and “drinking buddy.” As luck would have it, Wolf was also a well-known and established Eastern Shore painter who taught weekly painting classes. He suggested that Dodsworth sit in on these classes and learn how to paint.
Dodsworth had never been interested in painting, hadn’t taken any studio art classes while at Washington, and said he just took the classes to hang out with Wolf. He learned the basics of oil painting and composition, and as time went on, spent more time with Wolf and his wife, Pam, discussing art and working on his technique. He discovered that he loved painting and had a natural talent for it.
“[Wolf] showed me the ropes, taught me the basics and more, and the desire to paint had been born and stuck with me,” he said. If painting was opening up a whole new world for him, managing construction projects was limiting, and he needed a change. “Then I joined the Navy and disappeared.”
He signed up after a friend called him from Pensacola, where he was learning to fly for the Navy. The friend said it was great fun, sun and beach, and perfect for him. Dodsworth went straight to a Navy recruiter in D.C., did a quick aptitude test, and “within a week I was on a plane to the Pensacola Aviation Officer Candidate School.”
The Quietest Moment
The Quietest Moment
Thus began his career in the Navy. He got his wings and flew helicopters off little frigates and destroyers. Later he commanded a fleet of small boats defending coastlines, and later still he was in charge of ground logistics for a hospital boat providing cleft palate surgery for Central American children. He was in the Persian Gulf for Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, although he didn’t experience direct combat in either.
He spent 10 years on active duty and many more in the reserves. While in the reserves, he ran a construction company, and after he retired from the reserves, he became a contractor test-piloting drones for the Navy—these were helicopter-sized drones that could land and take off from ships.
Early in his career, Dodsworth had met and married his wife, Ellen, and had two children, both of whom are Washington alums—Emma Dodsworth ’21 and John Dodsworth ’22. By almost any measure, his was a successful and happy life, yet there was still that creative itch that had not been scratched.
Greenbury Point
Still Life, with Dog
Take Five
June Morning
Sun Salutation
“In 2017, my mentor Terry Wolf died,” he said. “That was a wake-up call. He was 71, and I was 56. At that moment, I knew that if I ever wanted to really paint, I had to do it then. And that’s what I did.”
Dodsworth had picked up a paintbrush from time to time since leaving Chestertown, but he was just going through the motions and not taking it seriously. This time, he set out to do it properly and methodically. The first step was to relearn the basic techniques and immerse himself in the world of art. To this end, he “mentored” with a series of established artists, taking classes as well as working one-on-one with individual artists.
“I began in 2017, and by 2019 I was looking for really, really good artists who could give me a few hours of their time,” he said. “I would show them my paintings, discuss the issues I wanted help with, and they would give me their critiques. I would work with them for a month or more, then go away and work on my own. I’ve done this every year since and learned that constructive criticism is invaluable.”
He read widely, went to exhibitions, and began making contacts in the art world. And as he became more technically skillful, he began to develop his own style and aesthetic as an artist. He found the paintings in which he included a “narrative” of sorts were not only the most satisfying works for him, but were also the most appealing to jurors and the public. These “narrative” qualities are not clear storylines as they would be in writing; they are personal elements, often everyday items with a connection to the artist, that are in a painting. He believes that these personal elements, typically not the main focus of a composition, add a quality that pulls the viewers in and makes the work more meaningful to the viewer.
“My paintings are very story-driven for the most part,” he said. “They’re all moments out of my life, particularly my interior paintings; there’s an intimate quality to them. By intimate, I mean my coffee cup, a bathrobe hanging there, my dog, even my wife. I paint a lot of my old tools, my old Thermos, my father-in-law’s tools. There’s personal meaning in them. The people who buy them connect with them.”
His en plein air paintings, outdoor scenes painted by the artist on location, are different from his more personal interiors and paintings of his house and garden. However, he wants them to tell a story, too.
“[In the en plein air paintings] I work really hard on the compositions having a sort of story or a distinct point of view,” he said. “For example, I did a painting at the Adkins Arboretum, where I was painting this bright midday sunlit scene. But I was painting from under a tree, sheltered and looking out into the sun and across a field. I’m trying to tell a story about the scene and being there in that moment. I called the painting “From Under,” and I find my most successful paintings and ones from which you can get this sort of narrative.”
Dodsworth views his art as a career, one that must pay for itself. Today, his work is getting more and more attention and is accepted into increasingly selective group exhibitions. He shows his work up and down the East Coast from Norfolk to as far north as the Adirondacks. His work is currently featured at The Artists’ Gallery in Chestertown and the North End Gallery in Leonardtown, both in Maryland. You can find out more about him and his work at freemandodsworth.com
I’m trying to tell a story about the scene and being there in that moment.
I’m trying to tell a story about the scene and being there in that moment.
“In 2017, my mentor Terry Wolf died,” he said. “That was a wake-up call. He was 71, and I was 56. At that moment, I knew that if I ever wanted to really paint, I had to do it then. And that’s what I did.”
Dodsworth had picked up a paintbrush from time to time since leaving Chestertown, but he was just going through the motions and not taking it seriously. This time, he set out to do it properly and methodically. The first step was to relearn the basic techniques and immerse himself in the world of art. To this end, he “mentored” with a series of established artists, taking classes as well as working one-on-one with individual artists.
“I began in 2017, and by 2019 I was looking for really, really good artists who could give me a few hours of their time,” he said. “I would show them my paintings, discuss the issues I wanted help with, and they would give me their critiques. I would work with them for a month or more, then go away and work on my own. I’ve done this every year since and learned that constructive criticism is invaluable.”
He read widely, went to exhibitions, and began making contacts in the art world. And as he became more technically skillful, he began to develop his own style and aesthetic as an artist. He found the paintings in which he included a “narrative” of sorts were not only the most satisfying works for him, but were also the most appealing to jurors and the public. These “narrative” qualities are not clear storylines as they would be in writing; they are personal elements, often everyday items with a connection to the artist, that are in a painting. He believes that these personal elements, typically not the main focus of a composition, add a quality that pulls the viewers in and makes the work more meaningful to the viewer.
“My paintings are very story-driven for the most part,” he said. “They’re all moments out of my life, particularly my interior paintings; there’s an intimate quality to them. By intimate, I mean my coffee cup, a bathrobe hanging there, my dog, even my wife. I paint a lot of my old tools, my old Thermos, my father-in-law’s tools. There’s personal meaning in them. The people who buy them connect with them.”
His en plein air paintings, outdoor scenes painted by the artist on location, are different from his more personal interiors and paintings of his house and garden. However, he wants them to tell a story, too.
“[In the en plein air paintings] I work really hard on the compositions having a sort of story or a distinct point of view,” he said. “For example, I did a painting at the Adkins Arboretum, where I was painting this bright midday sunlit scene. But I was painting from under a tree, sheltered and looking out into the sun and across a field. I’m trying to tell a story about the scene and being there in that moment. I called the painting “From Under,” and I find my most successful paintings and ones from which you can get this sort of narrative.”
Dodsworth views his art as a career, one that must pay for itself. Today, his work is getting more and more attention and is accepted into increasingly selective group exhibitions. He shows his work up and down the East Coast from Norfolk to as far north as the Adirondacks. His work is currently featured at The Artists’ Gallery in Chestertown and the North End Gallery in Leonardtown, both in Maryland. You can find out more about him and his work at freemandodsworth.com
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