What is your name?
My name is Angela Pilgrim.
Where are you from?
I am from Newark, New Jersey. Originally Paterson, NJ.
What is the name of your studio?
My studio is called Fruishun Press Studio.
Who are your favorite printmakers/biggest inspirations?
I have so many, but I have to go with Emma Amos and Elizabeth Catlett.
What was your first job as an artist?
I was a Gallery Attendant in Brooklyn!
Where did you discover printmaking and how did you get into it?
To be honest, looking back the earliest I remember would have to be as a child. Making finger stamps in school and transferring the ink on my hands to paper. Fast forward to the present day, I re-discovered it in 2015 when I was looking at opportunities to expand my practice. I was truly looking for a challenge and I found it in an opportunity to learn printing via a residency program.
How did you come up with your non-traditional techniques?
I have such a DIY or “exploring” approach to printmaking so a lot of it is trial and error. Other times, I would try to print using a specific technique and I have a happy mistake and that “mistake or non- traditional method” tends to stick. I believe that there are no mistakes and printmaking does not always have to stick to the rules to be effective (lol).
What is one tool you could not create without?
I could never be without a trusty squeegee and a roll of acetate.
What is your biggest rule in the print shop?
Make sure to not get any ink on your clothes, there's no mistake in printing and clean up as you go if you can! (lol)
Tell us about “Print and Playlist” (I remember you posting early on about the importance of printing to good music -I agree- and now you’ve made it a thing!)
I have always been so deeply inspired by music alone. I come from a family of musicians and it had a direct impact on the work I make. I believe good music will bring out the best in you, therefore translates in your art. Early on, I did not know how I could tie the two, all I knew was that I would find great music and work to it and it was my thing for a while. I slowly started to share music I listened to on social media and received so much great feedback from it, I decided to share my “secret” to making my art. I named it “Print and Playlist” because it was exactly what I was doing, printing to a great playlist in my opinion. We are now on Volume 5 which drops very soon on Apple Music.
Talk Self Love, Hair Love, Sisterhood, Womxn, Fashion and Fruishun.
A Lot of my work is deeply guided by my own journey in finding a place that felt comfortable in the black hair community. For a very big portion of my life, I was terrified about the “unknown” of what my hair should look like. I was taught like many young black women to straighten their hair and make sure it was neat. As I got older, I challenged those ideals and started to strip away the negative self talk I would have with my hair. I treated it like it was not good enough and in reality I was just so uneducated and uninformed. Hair is very much like a language, it speaks and you have to learn it. As I grew stronger in my narrative, I embraced it in my art as much as I could in my own language in screen printing. All of my pieces have an aspect of what black womanhood means, a shared narrative that makes sisterhood so powerful. It is like an unsaid gesture towards “I understand you” and I feel like many can relate to my art.
Fruishun was a direct response to people seeing what I could do in the lane of screen printing. I had so much great feedback and demand for my prints, I decided to share it as products through wearable art. This included original prints, headwraps, t-shirts and more. I named my online store and business Fruishun in 2016 when I was realizing that the art I was creating was being “brought to life” and I played on the word fruition. Things at that time were moving so swiftly that I felt I was creating metaphorical fruits of my art and narrative for the future Angela. I encourage everyone who buys from Fruishun that you can make anything happen if you really believe in it.
How did you get involved in Black Women of Print, and how do you plan to empower more black women to run their own studios?
I was invited by the founder Tanekeya Word very early on before BWOP was officially launched publicly. Encouraging more Black women to have control of their own spaces is so important. By working with BWOP, it has expanded into a bigger platform with the help of amazing women as founding members, that which I am proud of. Like on my platform, I have also been able to reach more women who have the love for printing, supporters or just curious artists/lovers of art. BWOP has given back in areas of education from founding members from their studios, visibility of black printmakers and also donated supplies with the help of corporate supporters to black woman printmakers just to name a few. This alone has made the platform so important in its early stages and we are just getting started.
I’ve also expanded my content on socials and beyond to help women to create space in their homes and how to navigate community spaces that they may not always have been supported in. I encourage women to reach out to me if they have any questions, taught in my community and online and it has been an amazing experience to know there are more of us out there in the world.
How has this pandemic changed and current events changed your life as an artist? What has stayed the same?
The pandemic was a shock to me because of all of the disheartening news and especially closings of recreational buildings, businesses and especially studio spaces. I was about to obtain a studio space in Newark before the pandemic and had to make other plans. I slowly realized that working from home allowed me to “build and play” in my own studio, challenge myself and maintain a consistent schedule where I could work on art. I’d like to say nothing truly stayed the same, it allowed me to keep my art fresh and ideas flowing which was a great relief to me. I was always complaining about losing the time that I had to work on art and got exactly what I was looking for.
For more information, visit www.angelapilgrim.com
byfruishun.com and blackwomenofprint.com
Interview by Rachel Heberling July 2020
Edited by Hugo Gatica