Artist of the Week: Angelica Paige

Are there inherent limitations placed on artists when we classify them as illustrators, or designers, or print makers? Perhaps this applies more in school, but regardless, categories can limit the way we perceive an artist. I first saw the work of Angelica Paige at an open portfolio session at a printmaking conference, but I would have never guessed that she is an illustrator who has a passion for printing making and painting.

Her work combines various elements of nature and a few darker forces. She works with paints, etching, litho, and much more. She thrives in the structure of printmaking, but enjoys venturing out into out art forms.

Recently, Angelica was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Printmaking as an art form seems to be more technical or restrictive than painting. You work in both genres, what are you thoughts on the technical aspects of printmaking?
Angelica Paige (AP): The "restrictiveness" of making a print often challenges my creativity and I find that inspiring. That feeling of inspiration is freedom to me. Sometimes, a blank canvas or nice clean sheet of good paper is so intimidating, no matter how clear the image in my mind, because of all the possibilities. The automatic quality of printmaking, whether it be relief, etching, or litho, is fresh air for my artistic brain... being able to let go and accept what comes out and working the image from there keeps me from stressing about every minute detail. I have adapted this to paint... my paintings always have mono printing in them somewhere.

OA: Your work seems to have several different themes, do you feel there is a consistent element that ties your pieces together?
AP: Besides the fact I am the creator, the one thing my works all have is the employment of an automatic process, no matter what exact technique is used or what my subject may be. The biggest most important thing in illustration is consistency and style, qualities I seem to always be on the verge of possessing. I've always been so fascinated by everything, so it shows in my work that I could never settle on one viewpoint on the world when I can see it from so many places. It seems like everyone around me just reached out and picked something and said, " I am a photoshop/pastel/watercolor illustrator." It also seems like I tried to pick up whatever others left behind, going through one and another, never satisfied. I still paint primarily... it's the first 2D art form I knew and loved, but it's printmaking that has finally been leading me in a direction toward any real technical consistency. Printmaking makes my work be more graphic, too, which is more conducive to the illustration industry. Each new print I do, people familiar with my work are so excitable and I usually hear "Do more stuff like that!" As far as themes, I will never be able to narrow myself, and why should I? I'm still so fresh to "the industry" so ultimately, as an illustrator (which is a bit of an art prostitute really), it will be the clients that will lead me to the niche I will belong, which I'm guessing is the "sassy" attitude. What I am demanded, I must give, but that doesn't mean my essence is lost and my two cents isn't in it. I am, after all the creator.

OA: You seem to use a lot of brighter colors in your paintings, is the same intensity challenging to duplicate in printmaking?
AP: Heck no! The pigments in the inks are just as rich and pure as those in the water based media, but they are more difficult to alter in their transparencies so you don't get the same degree of values within colors that might make a painting seem to be bright.

OA: There was a community feel at the recent Southern Graphics Conference. Do you have a supportive community of artists in Savannah?
AP: Absolutely. Printmaking in general is a supportive community. I can't put my finger on it, but we're all just really cool people. I thought maybe it was just in Savannah, but at this year's SGC I saw that community was not only national but global. Illustration is so competitive! And I am so not. Working with print has kept me sane.

OA: Why did you decide to make the trek to Chicago and what were your thoughts on the conference and Chicago in general?
AP: Well, as cute/lame as this will sound, I came with my college's Printmaking Club! There's no print major, at Savannah, just the minor, and so printmaking has become a mash up of all different majors (animation, fibers, photo, painting, and illustration) and the club keeps us together in a way. We should have totally made screenprinted shirts to sell! We did that and also made Valentine's Day cards to sell to raise money for SGC. We had a substantial group go and with all the money raised, we paid for a hotel rooms and most of our fees. If not for that, I probably couldn't have afforded to go. I was also pretty much talked into going by Eun Lee. I was skeptical, because I honestly haven't seriously been printmaking long, although since I started, it's been one of the main media I've been using for illustration. I'm so happy I went. My faith in art was even strengthened somehow. Chicago was surprisingly wonderful, too. I'm a country girl. Even quaint little Savannah becomes too much of a city for me. (Although sometimes it's not enough of one.) The L tracks running above the streets were the most surreal thing to me. The museums were amazing. Food was cheap, plentiful, and delicious... even at 2 am! And people are hospitible! I guess I was just expecting New York with a different accent. I was wrong.

OA: What's next for Angelica Paige?
AP: Ice cream, right after this...
Hm. I suppose you mean career wise. I graduate from SCAD this year, which is nerve racking. I deal with the pressure by taking on so many extra projects, I don't have time to stop and worry... just doin' it and doin' it and doin' it well. I'm helping out with the Savannah Mall Mural project, entering local juried exhibitions within Illustration and Printmaking, including Alexander Ink and our Illustration Senior Show. I'm having my first big gallery show in June at DeSoto Row in Savannah with a friend of mine who shares the same story... I can see it on a circus banner: Illustrators who Paint and Print! I'm still an illustrator, really, but I'm going to continue to make prints as my way of execution. I'm going to try to get close to home (Tennessee), and see if Yee Haw in can't use some of my slave labor.

Bonus Questions:
OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
AP: I would like to choose so many historical, philosophical figures, but none of them speak English. Instead, I think I'd like to have coffee with my grandmothers.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
AP: I love so many different types of music, you'd think I have a split personality. Again, I just cannot settle in my artistic tastes! Just the other day in a long trek to the Mall Mural Project and back, I went from punk (Dead Kennedys), to hip-hop (Outkast), to classical (Bach), and finally, obscene country (Hank III). However, my soul is in rock n' roll: my favorite all time band is Led Zeppelin, and my favorite contemporary band is Tool.

For more information on Angelica Paige please visit her website.