​Contemporary South African Art

Erin Williams began her professional career as a full time artist in 1885 upon receiving her MFA in painting at the State University of New York at Albany where she was awarded with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Art. After

a bi-coastal upbringing between NY and CA, including studies at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, Erin returned to the west coast to settle down in a lush, picturesque valley outside of Eugene, OR.
Married with 2 children, she spent the next 20 years raising her family while daily painting

the natural bounty of their small farm and surrounding countryside. Her art became the family business, supporting them with sales from regional galleries, national art festivals where she won many awards, and a line of notecards that were carried in shops nationwide.
In 2006, following the message from a dream, Erin moved to Santa Barbara where she lives with her current partner in an enchanted ocean front home where she paints the semi-tropical beauty that surrounds her. She has found

a new following of collectors here and is very involved with the thriving artist community.

Her designs have been licensed as fabric, gift wrap, tabletop ware, wall decor, greeting cards, tile murals, wooden puzzles and more.
In 2012 during a magical trip to visit her son who lives in Maui, she was called to create

a home away from home on the island to paint the spirit of Aloha. She makes regular sojourns to the island of Maui where she is represented by Village Galleries in Lahaina. Erin has been blessed and enriched by her art every day

of her life and is grateful to all who have supported her on her path as an artist.
The deeper story:
Art saved my life. As a survivor of horrible early childhood sexual abuse my sense of Self as an honored, worthy, Divine being was debilitated in my formative years. I shut down, becoming withdrawn and quiet, deeply insecure.

I instinctively turned inward and found solace

in drawing and painting.
Later as a young adult I was met with a lack of compassion and support when I made efforts

to heal my deep wound, causing further damage to Self. This led me to turn more fully to my art as Source of comfort and reassurance. I became conscious of seeking the Divine, in Nature and my Self, through the act of painting.
By closely observing and becoming one with Nature by painting Her using vivid colors and lyrical patterns, I have returned to my own Divine Presence. Seeking this unity with nature and my creativity has become a life long daily practice and is my calling.
People say to me “You must be a happy person to make such happy paintings” and

I suppose that has become true, but it happened in reverse. Creating happy paintings has made me become a happy person.
It is my wish to send happy art out to the world as a reminder of the joy inherent in being Divine creatures on this beautiful earth.