We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful April Fitzpatrick. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with April below.

April, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

In July 2013, I decided to take the leap of becoming a practicing artist. My grandmother passed in January of that year, and I was struggling with the lasting impacts of grief. In between jobs, I began to paint to externalize the grief, depression, and anxiety. What do you desire for your life is a question I asked myself daily? After speaking with a long time friend about passion, self belief, and creativity, I stumbled upon a documentary about Jean Basquiat. From that moment, I activated my creative self. I moved from Memphis back to Mississippi, and took the risk on my art career. It has been 9 years, and I don’t regret it at all. The past 9 years have been like planting pineapples. I have experienced every emotion known to man, and I have accomplished a lot! I am now a full time visual artist and art therapist. I am the CCO of Pineapples with Purpose, a mental health practice that uses process and prevention to address mental stigma with the Black community through art and art therapy. I have exhibited in over 20 shows with my most recent being a solo show in the Tallahassee Artport Gallery.

April, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

April Fitzpatrick is a board certified art therapist, mixed media visual artist, and CCO of Pineapples with Purpose, LLC, a mental health platform that introduces art therapy to communities impacted by race-based traumatic stress. Her interest came about after a battle with depression following the death of her grandmother. She desired to create artistic avenues to process buried narratives regarding mental health in the Black community. Her artistry marries contemporary abstraction with experimental narrative to produce paintings and collages that capture the layered realities of Blackness, racial trauma, and oppression alongside the history and evolution of the pineapple. Fitzpatrick’s principle purpose is helping individuals uncover, assess, and externalize challenges that affect their overall wellbeing.

Fitzpatrick’s current project, Symbolic Transformation, calls into question her role as a visual artist and art therapist within Black communal spaces. Using the pineapple as a direct metaphor, she creates large scale pieces based on visual influences and inspiration of her art therapy practice and decolonization of multicultural counseling’s efforts to address race based traumatic stress (RBTS). Her work has been featured in Black Minds Mag: Issue 2 https://gumroad.com/l/klQnt, Art Seen: The Curator’s Salon Magazine https://www.amazon.com/Art-Seen-Curators-Salon-Magazine/dp/B094LCQD4H, and ART4EQUALITY x LIFE, LIBERTY, PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS Exhibition Catalog. April has exhibited art pieces in over 10 cities with one being a group exhibition in Tribeca, New York which was featured in Forbes magazine and a bus station ad of her work in Miami, FL.

Currently, April supervises an expressive art therapies program in Tallahassee, FL and is committed to using art to create a sense of place for members of the local community. She is most proud of her duality as an artist and art therapist. April would like her audience to digest the pineapple as a symbol of internal excellence. So when you spot a pineapple, remember you have a story and it matters. Her mantra to others is “Make Room for Your Crown!” because your pain one day will turn into purpose.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

For the next 2 to 3 years, I have a strong desire to live as an artist in residence. This means that I hope to secure both national and international residencies to cultivate my identity and presence as an artist and art therapist. My work is driven by narrative storytelling, and engagement with others drives those stories.

While pursuing such residencies, my mission is to reduce mental health stigma, implement preventative measures, and increase accessibility. I aim to position my art within traditional (museums) and nontraditional spaces (green spaces) to create safe contained experiences that become sources of knowledge and a reimagining of communal art therapy. With my training and artistic skill set, I believe we can amplify arts’ role in mental wellness by regenerating communities through creative expression.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I am grateful to have discovered books about Black artists as I was defining my identity as a visual artist. Souls Grown Deep volume 1 and 2 was a time machine for my imagination.

The following artists have inspired me alot along the way. Mary Lovelace O’neal, Emma Ross, Lois Malou Jones, Carolyn Norris, Carol M. Byard, Betye Saar, Robin Holder, Laura Wheeler Waring, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Beauford Delaney, Benny Andrews, Aaron Douglass

These artists are of recent inspiration: Kara Walker, Cassi Namoda, Bisa Butler, Genesis Tramaine, Lavett Ballard, Tschabalala Self.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pineappleswithpurpose.com/artist-portfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pineappleswithpurpose/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=pineappleswithpurpose
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprilfitzpatrick14/