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We are deeply saddened to share the news that artist, MFA alumnus, and Professor Emeritus Elizabeth Erickson has passed away.

Originally from Austin, Minnesota, Erickson earned her Bachelor of Arts from the College of St. Theresa in Winona, Minnesota in 1964. Erickson, along with other women artists in the Twin Cities, founded the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota, or WARM–the first feminist art cooperative in Minnesota. With a career spanning over six decades, Erickson’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Form + Content Gallery, the Weisman Museum, the Soho 20 Museum in New York, the National Women’s Museum of Art (Washington DC and Beijing, China), the International Women’s Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, and various college and university museums nationwide. Her works are in collections nationally, including the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Edward G. Robinson Collection in Los Angeles. In 2009, Erickson was recognized, along with fellow feminist artist, educator, and friend Patricia Olson, as a Changemaker by the Minnesota Women’s Press for founding the Women’s Art Institute, a summer studio intensive for women. Erickson earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from 51���Ϲ��� in 1998.

In 1983 Erikson began teaching painting and drawing at 51���Ϲ���, before retiring in 2012. Students commented that they “have never been so inspired and motivated” as they were during Erickson’s classes, and that she “was an inspiration from day one…her passion and art is outstanding.”

Erickson stated in her own words: “As an artist, I am primarily interested in the rhythms of human living, how this can become art that reveals the experience and aspiration of the soul, unique to each individual.”

Erickson had an important impact on many at 51���Ϲ���, in the larger Twin Cities art community, and beyond. Ed Charbonneau, friend and mentee of Erickson, states, “Elizabeth was one of the most sincere and joyful artist educators I have known, and I am so thankful that she was in my life. She was my MFA mentor from 2004-06 during which time she modeled a teaching style that I have endeavored to emulate these past twenty years. She was kind, thoughtful, and extremely perceptive; she taught me that to work with students was to walk alongside them on their journey as artists and designers.” Ed continued, “I will miss Elizabeth, and her memory will walk alongside me every time I step into a classroom.”

And Howard Quednau wrote, “Elizabeth brought a sense of joy and poetry to her work as artist and educator. She was a patient and nurturing colleague–someone who truly wanted the best for her students. I was fortunate to work alongside her for nearly twenty years; she was very much the soul of the Fine Arts Department and an inspiration for a generation of our students.”

Erickson’s legacy and absence will be felt by family, friends, colleagues, and former students.

Memorial services have yet to be announced. More details to follow.