Angela Fremont

Biography

Angela Fremont was raised in rural south Florida. Her undergraduate painting degree is from NYU. She was apprenticed to Michaelangelo Pistelleto at the Venice Bienalle. As an educator, her MA degree (SUNY New Paltz) concentrated in ceramics and drawing.  She has been the recipient of a Fulbright-Hays to China, a MacDowell Fellow, and had residencies in Arles sur Tech, France; Skopelos, Greece; ChaShaMa North;  and a NYFA fellowship at Franklin Furnace.  She is an experienced public speaker and visual arts workshop leader and arts educator with over 30 years’ experience. She continues to mentor new teaching artists for the NYC Public Schools and Studio in a School in NYC. She has exhibited widely with recent work in Art That Bears Witness in Ossining, NY.  Her work was the cover image of The MacDowell Annual Report, 2021 and is in many private collections worldwide. She is the founder and first director of NYC’s celebrated Materials for the Arts.

Artist statement

Since the age of 12 I've known I would be an artist. I grew up in a wild jungle-like environment of rabbits, raccoons, birds and coyotes, abundant flora and fauna where building treehouses was as normal as playing with dolls and Tarzan and Jane were my heros.  The natural world steadies and guides my spirit while the human story inspires my heart and hand. 

Since the early 80’s I have been making paintings about mothers and children, family life, how children spend their time.  I am particularly interested in the dynamics between mothers and children. Trained as both a painter and ceramicist, I toggle back and forth between these two mediums, drawing and printmaking, creating work that tells the stories of the complex lives of women and children.  I start paintings first with research in libraries looking for archival images of women and children together. I have used the extensive images of The Picture Collection in the NY Public Library for many, many years. After sourcing images I draw, collage drawings, and create new compositions that I then transfer to the painted surfaces of the canvas. Spirit images emerge from the painted surface once the composition has been laid in. The images reference art historical goddesses and statues from the Met where I often teach. More recently the appearance of the animal world has referenced my early childhood in rural south Florida.  But of course, all this is in service to making a very good painting. Balancing color, form, gesture, and intent. Recent ceramic sculptures grow out of the paintings and are always being made. I am so grateful to be an artist.  To wake up every day knowing I have so much work to do.