meet the artist: 

Erica Sutherland

Erica Sutherland is originally from Katy, Texas and resides in Oak Cliff with her husband, two daughters, and a feisty little dog named Ralph. As an artist, her recent experimental abstract works are made with a mixture of materials including everything from acrylic, paper, pastels, and charcoal to  less conventional mediums like bleach and cosmetics. If it can make a mark or exist on a two-dimensional surface, it is fair game in her work. 

 

Erica’s art career began over twenty years ago in Lubbock as a life drawing and printmaking student at Texas Tech University before she was thrust suddenly into motherhood in 2005.  

 

The journey of being a single mother, artist, and college student took her home to University of Houston before ultimately graduating with a BFA in Painting and Drawing at the University of Arlington in 2009 thanks to the unwavering support from an incredible network of family and friends. She has previously worked as an intern at Valley House Gallery and exhibited work in the Heights neighborhood of Houston. Her greatest source of pride amid the tumultuous and relentless pursuit of her art degree was being able to share the experience with her oldest daughter. It is of note that this period also caused a seismic shift in her method which remains prevalent in her work today. 

Ultimately, Erica’s artistic endeavors were put on an extended hiatus as she raised her first child who is now entering adulthood and going off to college herself. In this time, she has grown her family and pursued a successful career that started in automotive and ended in ad tech. She is now focused primarily on her family and sharing her art with the community out of The Sutherland Studio in Bishop Arts where she’s embarking on a new chapter aimed at connecting art lovers and inspiring the next generation of aspiring artists.