Erika Stearly

OVERVIEW


Erika Stearly makes paintings of the spaces where people live. Inspired by vintage home remodeling magazines and friend's houses, her paintings are documentary. They tell a story of everyday life. Her work has been featured in exhibitions in cities throughout the U.S. and has received numerous awards including artist grants from the Puffin Foundation, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where she completed her MFA in 2014. She was the 2015 Emerging Artist in Residence at Penn State University, where she taught painting, and was a 2018 Visiting Faculty Fellow at Kutztown University.

Using a combination of watercolor and acrylic paint, Stearly quickly sketches in the setting. Despite being loosely rendered, exaggerated and often brightly colored, the collection of domestic items depicted still manage to evoke the sense of a particular place. Stearly's paintings are often titled by street address or named after the people who live there. The fluidity between abstraction and representation creates a unique feeling of nostalgia.