Erica Keener
Drawing, Painting
With her bold use of color and her eye for natural detail, Erica’s work captures the world around us, asking viewers to reconsider even the most apparently ordinary scenes. In particular she enjoys trying to recreate clouds and storms as they move over the landscape. Through her paintings, Erica’s hope is to share the sanctuary that she finds in nature, particularly when contemplating the ever changing skies above. She encourages everyone to look around more often - and especially to look up.
Working from her own reference photos, many taken in the vicinity of her home in the country in Preble County, the tactile nature of her preferred medium of pastels allows Erica to directly interact with the source of inspiration, creating pieces that evoke a sense of wonder and awe at the beauty of the natural world.
She is privileged to be a member of the supportive art community in Dayton and has a studio at the Front Street Art complex. Her award winning art has been exhibited in Richmond, Oxford, Dayton and Cincinnati and can be found at the McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford, the Henny Penny Corporate Headquarters in Eaton, the Five Rivers Health Center Edmonton Campus in Dayton as well as local private collections throughout the Miami Valley area and beyond.
I used to think of painting in solitary terms. It was simply straight-forward observation of light and shadow and color, capturing a fleeting moment on canvas or paper for my own satisfaction. But when others began to tell me about the joy my paintings brought to them, I realized it was more than that. It meant something. It was personal to them as well, it made them smile, gave them solace. What was on the surface just a painting of the sky or fields became a source of comfort and have come to realize that my little contribution to making the world a better place is to share with others the sanctuary that I have found when shadow and light and color come together in those fleeting moments of harmony. And maybe that small sanctuary in a chaotic world is not such a little thing after all.
Scattering
12x24
Pastel