BIOGRAPHYErica Iman is a painter and ceramist working primarily in clay and raw earth materials, with forms based in geology and fragmented landscapes.While earning her BFA and BSE, she studied Etruscan ceramics in Cortona, Italy. Before completing her MFA degree, she served 2 years in the U.S. Peace Corps on the Eastern Steppe of Mongolia teaching English and Gardening while exploring the Gobi Desert and Altai Mountains. After finishing her work in Mongolia, she was a selected participant in the International Workshop for Ceramic Arts in Tokoname, (IWCAT) Japan program, spending the summer living with a Japanese family, climbing Mount Fuji, studying ancient and contemporary Japanese pottery and culture.Erica has worked in clay since 2000 and recently set up her studio on 9 acres in the hills north of Lawrence, KS. She travels across the U.S. participating in juried art fairs and giving workshops throughout the year. Erica was a founding member of KC Urban Potters, and an Artist Inc. business course facilitator. She has taught in various schools and art centers, has won multiple Best of Show awards, and has work in hundreds of private collections and in the permanent collection of San Angelo Museum of Fine Art. She has shown at galleries across the United States, most recently at Carter & Co. in St. Helena, California. ABOUT THE WORK I work intuitively while making, responding to the form, surface and overall feel, ripping at edges and emphasizing natural cracks. Many of my techniques come from mimicking nature's processes such as freeze and thaw, extreme moisture and drought, and erosion. Intuition and an inner, centered emotion both play a large role during the creation of my work. I push back and forth between masculine and feminine, raw and refined; the exuberance of traveling to a foreign land and the inner clarity and resonance of simply being. I’m drawn to a sense of timelessness, the origin story of a stone, a glacier, or cracked desert earth, something that roots us in our existence beyond what humans have constructed.My work helps locate and orient me in the world. They are way posts, markers, guides, fragments, or cairns for exploring the essence of our physical and inner landscapes.