His numerous honors and awards have included fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the McKnight Foundation in Minnesota, and the Minnesota State Arts Board.

ERICKSON'S work is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Weisman Art Museum (Minneapolis, MN), the Nicolaysen Art Museum (Casper, WY), the Shepparton Art Gallery in Australia, and many others.

The artist's current body of work represents experiences from his travel to Cuba and China. Interpreting new sounds, smells, tastes, sights and textures into a travel log of sculpture, ERICKSON speaks to issues of cultural identity.

An essence of Cuba has been in ERICKSON'S sculpture for many years. He seeks to capture the sensuality and celebration of life found in the rhythmic complexity of Afro-Cuban Salsa music. The rich, colorful, textural laying of Salsa's instrumentation and vocals, combined with the pulsating percussional beat, dwell in his sculptures' structural frame and surface treatment. Spiraling forms, common also to structural regeneration in nature and the purest expression of moving energy, reflect the vitality of Salsa music and the relationships between dance partners.

ERICKSON sees the relationship of dance and sculpture through the use of tension, balance and their unique forms of non-verbal communication. The fluidity of long-time dance partners meld together as one in unison to the music, and ERICKSON'S spiraling forms wrap around each other in syncopation. Colors and surface textures also reflect the flora of the tropical island. Each form is an abstracted gesture of rhythm, energy, and animation.

In addition, China has been a new influence in ERICKSON'S studio. A recent trip has provided another cultural context and a contrast to Cuba. Paying tribute to the porcelain traditions in China, ERICKSON drew on the imagery of the lotus flower in this new work. In China, the lotus flower is an emblem of purity, fruitfulness and creative power. Combining this imagery with the textural patterns of stone carving from animals and figures at The Sacred Way leading to Ming tombs outside of Beijing, ERICKSON sculpture makes the world feel smaller, and people less foreign. Built as a hollow form, he carves away the unwanted clay, articulating imagery in the forms and bringing textural patterns to the surface. These pieces tell stories about the beauty in art, nature and the world.

Contact us directly at 612.332.2386 for further information about this artist.