CZT Family Tree: Joni Freed (Giving Tuesday 2025)

We always say that the Zentangle Method attracts really awesome people. We have had the pleasure of working with wonderful Certified Zentangle Teachers (CZT) all over the world and we are excited to share these wonderful people with the entire Zentangle Community. Through our series, CZT Family Tree, we will introduce individual CZTs.

Today, we are excited to introduce Joni Freed!

 

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Name: Joni Freed

CZT#: CZT 43

Joni writes...

Our tiles start with gratitude and appreciation. It is the first step in our method, and that is how I want to start this entry here. I’m grateful you’re reading this, and I appreciate the time you’re taking out of your day to be here.

The journey I’ve taken with the Zentangle Method may be familiar to many people. I found it by happenstance - tucked away in a book on a library shelf, and I only took it half seriously. At first. This was a little less than four years ago, and is the reason you’re reading this today. I still don’t know how to say this without sounding like a crazed fanboy, or annoyingly hyperbolic - but not only has the Method enriched my life, I believe it may have saved it. At a minimum, it has made it more meaningful; more connected, and undoubtedly more beautiful.

That day at the public library, I was looking for books on sketching. I’d been drawing animals a lot - an orangutan, an otter, a bear. There they were boring, cartoony subjects with no flair. No backgrounds, no patterns, and a little lifeless. I saw a Zentangle book, flipped through it, and it felt right. It felt like some kind of artistic answer to a question I didn’t know I had.

   

I was drawing again after a long, dry spell. In some way, it was drawing for the sake of survival. Drawing to stem off a streak of self-destructiveness that nearly killed me. It was 2022, and I’d just been granted a new life. In August of that year, I walked out of a treatment facility, and was clean and sober for the first time in well over a decade. Every addict or alcoholic has both personal reasons they use, but also some common ones. What I share with a lot of people is an unhealthy, unsustainable way of coping with life. This drug use consumed me - it took away a career, relationships, and almost the roof over my head. Although I worked in the Arts, it also stole my creativity; and like a thief in the night - my inspiration and hope as well.

Fast forward to that chance encounter with the book: I started incorporating a pattern here and there. Then I would just draw patterns, without the subjects. The journey was organic - but I was hungry and kept on wanting more. I found one CZT, who retired, and then another*, who I continue to study with. Patterns kept me company on lonely nights; tiles became markers and milestones, and the accomplishments started multiplying. As my head cleared and my technique became more refined, I began to think about teaching. About sharing this method with other folks in recovery. I see it as a tool in my recovery toolbox. And when we’re talking about defeating a foe that kills indiscriminately, without regard to who you are, and what your status is, we need all the tools at our disposal.

   

I was fortunate enough to qualify for the Zentangle CZT Scholarship program. This dream I had of sharing the technique that holds such personal meaning inched closer. I attended CZT43 this past October in Mystic, Connecticut. It can be seen as some sort of ending, and I won’t deny that it is an accomplishment. But for me, it’s just another marker - another milestone, and a stop on the journey. Given all I had lost with years of active addiction, the CZT Seminar was otherwise unattainable. With this gift, my dream is becoming a reality. I can teach, share, and be a steward of this incredible Method, and hopefully reach other folks in need.

With the support of the Zentangle Foundation, I plan to create a curriculum and a guide, using the Method as a tool. The tool that was so valuable in my life and recovery, and that has restored my vision of hope. That has infused my life with so much depth and calm moments of artistic pause.

I consider Recovery a journey of discovery. Discovering what helps, and what doesn’t. Learning our limits, challenging our beliefs, and remaining humble - recognizing our humanity, and admitting we’re fallible. This entry is supposed to overlap with Giving Tuesday, and the gift I want to give is this art form. This method of stepping back, and making our mark, and helping each other, because no one else will.

I appreciate you,
Joni Freed, CZT

*Incidentally, I take classes from Anica Gabrovec (AKA Zen Linea).  Anica is both the first recipient of the Foundation’s CZT Scholarship, in 2018, as well as Croatia’s first CZT. I am grateful for her guidance, warmth, and giving spirit.

Instagram: @joni.zen.czt
Mosaic: @jonifreed
Website: www.jonifreed.com (offline at the moment)

Read more about the Zentangle Foundation's milestone year, and the wonderful impact that donors make, in today's Giving Tuesday Newsletter.

As we look ahead, we invite you to help us continue expanding access, deepening research, and changing lives - one stroke at a time. If you feel inspired, please consider making a donation to the Zentangle Foundation. Your contribution fuels healing, creativity, and hope.