https://www.tucsonmuseumofart.org/exhibition/mirle-e-freel-jr/

Mirle E. Freel, Jr. approaches his art as a philosopher and an observer. Working in the mediums of photography and painting, his work is informed by a deep love of nature, experienced through hiking and riding horses in the remote wilderness of the West. This exhibition is a selection of photographs recently gifted to the Tucson Museum of Art. Focusing on qualities of light and reflection, Freel explores three artistic directions: the subconscious, including dreams and the imagination; direct experience; and non-objective art in what the artist calls “form manipulation.”

Born and raised in Casper, Wyoming, Freel studied at the University of Wyoming in the 1960s. He began a career as an art professor in the early 1970s, including a position at the Iowa Braille and Sight-saving School in Vinton, Iowa, where he developed a fine arts program for the visually impaired. In the 1970s, he also taught in schools across the country including the Tucson Museum of Art School in Arizona. In the 1980s, Freel taught at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa, and later at the University of Great Falls. In 2000, he retired and moved with his wife to Tucson, inspired by the warm climate, ample horse property, and the soaring mountains of the desert.