Erin Shaver

About the Artist

I was born and raised in Los Angeles.  After studying the arts in various formats throughout university, including theater, stage design & music, I began my work in monotypes in 2011.  I have received training and gathered influences throughout the world that have informed the evolution of my art.  I worked with various artists during a 2006 artistic residency in the Galapagos, Ecuador, studied with master instructors at the Hampstead School of Art in London and have apprenticed under the late, prolific printmaker Bob Boreman in Santa Monica, CA.   In addition, I have studied prinmaking at Art Center in Pasadena, CA.

Artistic Statement

 I’m drawn to the tactile, expressive nature of monotype printmaking, which provides a strong element of improvisation in the process of creation. Because of the nature of oil on aluminum as well as the reflected duplication created by the printing process, a degree of spontaneity is intrinsic to the final image.  My works are representational but leave a great deal open to imagination and interpretation, evoking other worldly, dream-like places and states.  I’m interested in and encourage the dialogue my pieces create with the viewer; I’m often told that my prints evoke personal stories or memories for the onlooker.  I create images that are lyrical and dramatic, with the intention to spur this dialogue of narration.  I’m influenced by moody land and cityscapes, scenes of shipwrecks and Japanese Sumi-E landscape painting.   My goal is to pursue and perfect my art in my spare time, creating cohesive series that suggest stories of their own with a beginning, middle and end, moving within the poetic framework of imagined worlds.