NAME: Erin Webster
BIRTH PLACE: Central Valley, California
BIRTH DATE: 9.18.77
BIOGRAPHY
Erin Webster has lived and worked in the central valley where she received her M.A. in Art from California State University, Fresno. She has participated in residencies at the Fresno Art Museum and the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art. She currently teaches painting at Gavilan College in Gilroy, CA. Her work is influenced by memory and how it manifests itself in the mind in a fragmented manner. When making paintings, she intends for the fragmentation that occurs in her mind to be translated to the surface. She is fascinated by process and aims to reveal her methods in her art. It is intrinsic that every step in the work be revealed from the wood grain of the surface to the collaging of photographs that she works from. The use of digital photography reflects her belief that contemporary cultures are obsessed with documenting memories photographically. These contrived images become placeholders for an authentic experience. Erin is deeply inspired by the immense beauty of nature. Beyond the literal translation of what she visually experiences, there is always the inclusion of her emotional state, which is interwoven symbolically by incorporating natural icons.
