Erin Tapp‘s abstract landscapes and silhouette paintings evoke a sense of joy and movement. Filled with detailed brush patterns and bright colors that blend in 
harmoniously, it’s as if Tapp’s emotions are transferred right to the canvas through her paintbrush.
“I’ve always wanted my work to evoke an emotional response, and thus I’ve always been most largely influenced by impressionism and expressionism,” says Tapp. “The mission of these two movements in art history [is] to express the essence of a thing, and express personal emotions tied to a specific thing, and within my own work I’ve always been interesting in marrying these ideas.”
An Atlanta native, Tapp graduated from Wake Forest University in North Carolina (the only time she left her native city) with a degree in Studio Art and English in 2016. As soon as her graduation cap tassel moved from right to left, she came back to Atlanta.
“The art scene has great roots but even greater potential, and I’m excited to be a part of it as the arts culture in Atlanta continues to emerge and thrive,” says Tapp. Most recently, she hosted an art show, Steady as Sunshine, at Octane Westside during the month of February after a taking a year off from exhibitions in 2017 to take in commission work.
Here, Tapp shares more on creating art that’s relatable, how she balances commissions and art shows, and her main goal behind creating art.
CommonCreativ: Have you always been in Atlanta?
Erin Tapp: I was born and raised in Atlanta, lived in Winston-Salem for a few years while attending Wake Forest University, and then returned to Atlanta after graduation. I came back for several reasons. My family and many of friends are here, which I think is a testament to Atlanta’s appeal. There is something old school, low-key and comfortable about Atlanta, juxtaposed with a culture of revival, go-getters, and fresh opportunities for growth, and its multifacetedness is really what I love most about Atlanta.
As an entrepreneur and young artist, it’s been the perfect place for me because it has all the opportunities and resources imaginable for someone in my position.
CC: What subjects are you attracted to?
ET: Things that evoke a response from the viewer. I enjoy painting things all across the board — from abstracts to places to objects — so whatever the subject may be, I want my work to make the viewer feel something. Most of my paintings work through my own memories and emotions, and I want my viewers to still find something relatable that he or she can connect with even in my most personal pieces.
CC: Tell me about your creative process — do you have a studio or do you work from home?
ET: I currently work at the Goat Farm Arts Center, which is an incredible place to work as it is filled with so many inspiring, creative people. I typically work on many paintings at a time and for each, my creative process starts with researching and finding images that inspire me. I’ll usually create a “mood board” that combines patterns I’m drawn to, color schemes, photos, other paintings, art history references, pop-culture ideas, and whatever else I might find on Instagram or Pinterest that catches my attention.
Once I’ve organized my mood boards, I’ll typically start doing some sketches, write out some thoughts as to what emotions or ideas I want the paintings to express, and experiment with some different colors and techniques. From there, I usually start working on the canvases, and since most of my paintings are multi-layered, there will be lots of stepping back, editing, experimenting, and painting over, and so on along the way.
Erin Tapp // Photo by Thu Tran
CC: Do you prefer working on smaller pieces or bigger ones?
ET: The bigger, the better! I love working on a large scale because the larger I go, the more I find that my work becomes freer and less concerned with tight details. It’s in the freedom that the most beautiful accidents occur, and I find that I am more inclined to take risks and try new things when I literally have more room for error.
CC: What are your favorite materials?
ET: I love working with all sorts of mediums, but I forever will love and favor oil paints. I was taught with oils, and I think there’s something really beautiful about working with the same materials that hearken back to centuries of great art historical masters and schools of painting. Because oils don’t dry right away, I also find that the most fascinating interactions occur with multi-layered oil paintings.
Recently, I’ve gotten into acrylic, and the immediacy of how quickly it dries is really nice when I’m working on something that requires more specific details and rendering. I also love working with pastels and watercolor and find it really makes all my work better when I play around with different mediums, find a cool technique with one and then try it with the other. Experimenting is my favorite!
CC: What inspires you these days?
ET: So many things! I think one of the biggest would be other artists’ work — whether that be from art history or artists I follow on Instagram, there’s something so special about how someone else’s work can stop you in your tracks and make you want to hop straight into the studio. Other sources of inspiration include: bright, colorful patterns and architectural spaces, traveling, reading, graffiti, flowers, cities, sunshine and shadows, photography — pretty much any and everything!
It really all depends on the thing or place itself; for instance, I’ve created work based on the most idealized photos of Italy, but I’ve also created work based on kid’s scribble drawings. It all comes down to paying attention and recognizing when something holds that whoa factor, and then using my work to explore what about that thing I find so intriguing in an attempt to share it with the world.
CC: How do you promote your art and nurture connections?
ET: This social media era is such a great time for young artists promoting themselves. I definitely use and recommend putting work on Instagram and Facebook, and I’ve also found it to be an incredible way to connect with and reach out to other artists who are also just starting out or are further along in their careers. Social media can be a great support system and way to create a network that can lead to great opportunities and collaborations.
CC: You worked mainly on commissions in 2017. What does the balance look like for you between commissions, website sales, and gallery shows?
ET: Yes, I mostly worked on commissions in 2017, and it was a great way to show a diverse body of work and also to grow as an artist. A lot of the commissions I did were well out of my comfort zone, and so with each one I did, I found myself growing as an artist. I think that from this past year, I learned that my creative process is best served by balancing personal website sales, commissions, and shows as doing a little bit of everything gives me some structure with deadlines but also the freedom to explore and experiment with my own work.
So far, the shows I’ve done have been through different connections I’ve made with other artists and creatives in Atlanta. There is an incredible network of other people in the Atlanta creative scene always looking for emerging artists, and it’s been a really fun and helpful community to start to grow within.
CC: Do you have any dream collaborations with other local artists?
ET: Oh, absolutely! I’d say all my dream collaborations would be with my Instagram “artist crushes” — there’s a large group of artists that work out of Charleston at the Redux Studios whose work is so vibrant and inspiring who would be so much fun to collaborate with. As far as Atlanta goes, I’ve always loved the work of Steve Penley and Sally King Benedict. They are killing it on the Atlanta art scene, and I just would lose my mind out of excitement if I had the opportunity to work with either of them.
CC: What do you think about Atlanta’s arts scene?
ET: I think it is such an awesome and exciting scene to be a part of. There is still a large portion of it that I’m not totally familiar with, but from what I’ve experienced so far, there are incredible resources and great things happening, but also great opportunities yet to be tapped into.
CC: What’s next for you?
ET: I have several exciting commissions in the works, and I [recently had a show opening] with another artist, Paige Fiegely, at Imagine Media Consulting on April 12. My main goal for 2018 is to get the balancing act down between commissions, shows, and my own work. If I could finish the year with several shows under my belt and fresh inventory that I’m selling on my website and through local stores or galleries, while working on steady commissions throughout, it will be an awesome year.
CC: Why do you make art?
ET: Someone once asked me this same question, and without even thinking it through I had the cheesiest response: I just have to! To elaborate a bit, it’s just always been an instinct. Anytime I’m taking notes, eating a meal (sorry, mom), or working in the yard (sorry, dad), I find myself doodling, rearranging my food sculpturally, or creating dirt drawings. Whatever the medium may be, I just have this pull to create something extraordinary from the ordinary.
I want to bring the world joy, and I think that ultimately that’s what my work comes down to: whether that is found in a commission of someone’s dog, a brightly colored abstract, or a doodle on a note, I want someone to see it and to feel that same amount of joy that I get from its creation.
See more of Erin’s work on her portfolio, Instagram, and Facebook.
