Erin’s work is an ongoing investigation into material reuse and restoration. Erin works with paper and found materials - cutting up, grouping, reconnecting, and rearranging in a process of transformation - an intentional act of reusing what has been discarded, breaking things apart and putting them back together again.  Her process – no matter the material – starts with color and is additive and iterative - letting the pieces themselves determine the construction methods that she will use. Walking and collecting materials is an important part of Erin’s process. Erin is also involved in outreach and connection through the sourcing of papers from other artists and by using their failures, experiments, or studio scraps, she is bringing these artists into long distance collaboration. Erin approaches her work almost as an art restorer - completing shapes that have been cut, finding the forms under the layers, and matching the colors with paint mixed directly on the surface.  This way of working grew in parallel to Erin’s experience as a caretaker for both her parents with early onset dementia. As her parents’ sense of self and connection to the world got smaller and more fragmented, Erin found beauty in reconstruction and in the careful placement of small things. 

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Erin has a BA in studio art and art history from Beloit College, and an MFA from California College of the Arts. As an undergraduate, her did an intensive study of traditional brush painting at Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata-shi, Japan. Erin is a faculty member of the 92nd Y School of the Arts in New York City and teaches collage and mixed media classes throughout the Bay Area. Erin’s artwork is licensed and sold through West Elm, Minted, and Samsung. Erin has been an Artist in Residence with the City of El Cerrito, the City of Walnut Creek, and Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.