Erica Podwoiski

Erica Podwoiski is a visual artist whose work explores intimate encounters with the natural world. Born and raised in Metro Detroit, Erica received her BFA from the Columbus College of Art & Design in 2010 and her MFA from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2017. She has exhibited at the Gallery of Contemporary Art (GOCA) in Colorado Springs, inside the Denver-based pop-up art truck Hey Hue, at the Galerie im Körnerpark in Berlin, and with the artist-founded Buckham Gallery in Flint, MI. In 2024, she served as the Summer Artist in Residence at the Firehouse Art Center in Longmont, CO. When not teaching adult classes in the 2D arts, Erica can be found pressing flowers, appreciating moths, and collecting dead bugs for inspiration.


Artist Statement

In the quiet hush of winter, shorter days and longer nights invite contemplation and reflection. Throughout my work, specters of seasons present, past, and future coincide, emphasizing the cyclical nature of time and the interconnectedness of life. In an effort to capture life at a standstill, I utilize cyanotype, one of the oldest forms of camera-less photography. Made in collaboration with the sun, these cyanotypes—or “sun prints”—combine traditional drawing with found natural objects.

The cyanotype functions as a fossil—it is proof that something existed, however briefly in time. Bearing witness to the rhythms of life, I examine my subjects in various states of splendor, torpor, and decay. Scanning the ground while walking the same path, watching an orb weaver’s web until it disappears, and returning to the same willow tree across seasons helps to remind me that we are all a part of nature.


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