recent graduate with a passion for all forms of art. I grew up in Happy Valley, Oregon--a suburb outside of Portland. There, I spent my middle and high school years teaching myself how to draw and paint. In college, I spent the entirety of my school career letting my love for art grow and my skills develop. After changing my mind several times, I finally landed on the majors that fit me best! I finished with a double major in visual communication and art history with a minor in museum studies. After my undergraduate graduation, I ran off to Scotland for a brief but lovely year-and-a-half where I earned my Master's degree in global premodern art history, heritage, and curation from the University of Edinburgh. One day, I hope to work as an in-house graphic designer or exhibition curator at a museum.
 
Outside of design, I still love drawing as I did in high school. I love all mediums, but I mostly work with alcohol-based markers and digital paintings. To me, art is the best way to communicate emotions and to create subconscious connections. I use art to create a physical representation of how I understand the universe: from distinct shapes and arbitrary colors to abstract forms and unconventional portraits. I mostly work in abstract realism, meaning I like to take real-life objects and turn them into something that couldn't exist in our universe (maybe in a different one, though!). By breaking the limitations that familiarity puts on our perspective, I turn our everyday observations into something completely new. I hope that while you're looking at my artwork, you find yourself unfamiliar with your own world and transported into mine.
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You can find more of my work on Instagram @erincartyart