Our earliest mark making on the landscape has fascinated me ever since I visited Brú na Boinne as a child.
Working with canvas and fine art paper using acrylics, watercolours, inks, pastels and charcoal, I endeavour to bring the wonder of these symbols picked on stone 5,000 years ago. My practice is grounded in archaeological research and site visits to digs on megalithic sites both in Ireland and Europe.
Being able to hold polished porcelanite stone axes from 2,500 B.C. found in the corbelled wall of burial tombs inspires a reverence and connection to the past. Respect for the people of an advanced civilisation that lived on these islands in neolithic times is the thread that runs through my work. Every culture has its prehistoric art and so telling the story of our first visual language is at the core of my practice.
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Erika is a visual artist painting in acrylics and oils with a Distinction and First in Class in Professional Photography and Graphic Design (DIT Kevin Street).
She had her first solo exhibition in 2018 in Signal Arts, Bray. As Chair of ‘Hinterland’, she organised a collaborative arts exhibition involving 50 ArtNetDLR artists in Dun Laoghaire. She is part of the CreateCrew Collective.
Erika has a Ph.D. in Psychology (TCD) and is a member of Visual Artists Ireland, Signal Arts, and ArtNetDLR.
Her work is held in private collections in the United States, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Erika is also a Heritage Expert with the Heritage Council and delivers workshops to teachers and students on Art and Heritage in the landscape.
Erika is a writer and volunteers with Fighting Words to foster a love of storytelling among school children.