Denna Erickson was born in Edmonton, Alberta. She studied at Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and has also attained a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Victoria in 1997. She has been teaching and working as an artist in the city of Vancouver for the past 20 years.
Denna specializes in using oil on wood & plaster. She often combines encaustic and transfer techniques with her work. Her paintings consist of personal symbols and organic shapes layered in glazes of luminscent color. Shapes and forms are transcended through transparent layers of paint. Each painting has a personal meaning or memory in time. The colors represent the emotion evoked by each piece. Denna plans her pieces by vivid thoughts of color, imagery is then added and the color and the imagery combined transcend into meaning.
Denna worked as an art educator, teaching secondary art for 17 years before venturing out to open The ArtWay Studios. Here she shares her love of art by teaching mixed media art practices to adults. She believes that art is about change. People can look at my work and feel something, but giving back in the form of teaching can really make a difference in people’s lives. Denna’s paintings always have an element of hope. Teaching art to people provides the same element to their lives; therefore teaching and painting are symbiotic to Denna’s art practices.
