erin murtha as an artist
erin murtha is an interdisciplinary artist whose artwork often focuses on the exploration of memory and its degradation over time as well as community, consumerism, and data in daily life. Most known for brightly colored, whimsical textile vignettes, she's driven by curiosity and storytelling and tends to be drawn to textiles due to their malleability mimicking the effects of memory. Creating and showing artwork for over a decade, her pieces have won awards, appeared in galleries around the region, and even found esteem in faraway lands--specifically The Netherlands.erin lives near family in Sioux Falls, SD with her creative partner and husband, Sean, and her collection of Japanese dolls.
A Collection of Works:
For Art Availability and Purchase please start a conversation through email.
For Commissions and Customs I don’t often entertain commissions, but I'm always open to chatting.
erin murtha as a mystic artist
In addition to her regular art practice, erin (as The Lazy Mystic) designed a 78-card tarot deck and a mini oracle deck. It's found a home in at least 9 countries and 38 states.Kitten Nuggets were created to manifest joy through storytelling. Each card is designed to create connections and relevancy in one's life. Kitten Nugget Tarot is a tool for reflection and growth and the nuggets themselves are mischievous little characters made to create pure, unadulterated joy. It’s easy for us to get caught up in life, but they remind us to enjoy the journey and not to take life too seriously.This deck is based on the classic Rider-Waite-Smith deck, so for those familiar, a lot of the imagery is relatable. It’s easy for folks who know tarot as well as folks who have never read about it or just want to collect limited art. Many classic archetype references are used alongside additional symbolism with careful consideration and thought to the original RWS card meanings. The detailed and colorful cards provide possibility when drawing symbolism. Kitten Nuggets have a way of delivering even the news one doesn't want to hear in the sweetest way.
Textile
My textile works are predominately an exploration into memory and cataloguing of daily life. I create or re-create objects from my life that I want to study in a new way for varied reasons. I.e. once a year I treat myself to little Debbie valentines cakes. What is it about the cakes that draws me in? I spend time with the packaging and meticulously recount details. I am drawn in and now have a permanent fixture to document my obsession.
Girlhood Objects
This series began in 2024 and is a memory and nostalgia study, based on objects I had or pined for as a pre-teen girl.For instance, the fashion plates were at my grandparent's house and each time I visited I hoped I would get some quiet time alone to play with them. The crayons were housed in an old Planters Cheese Balls container. One of my aunts had to get them out of this closet where I thought you'd fall through the floor if you went inside. It was always a little exciting and terrifying.
Jello
There are few things as intriguing as 1950s Americana culture. It was the advent of convenience, speed, efficiency, and seemingly endless hope for the future of humanity in America. Specifically, the need to delve deeper into the fascination with gelatin was inevitable. Of the various fads and novelty crazes that have swept across America, aspics are possibly a favorite.
Hangry
This sub-set of art is an observation the foods we love, the foods we hate - the foods we love to hate and hate to love. Pre-packaged for our convenience. An observation of what society turns to in times of joy, in times of convenience, in times of poverty, and in wealth. A variety of slice-of-life.
Cake.
Cake carries weight; the celebration, the emotions... birthdays, weddings, graduations, funerals... cakes are a part of a lot of moments in our lives. A lot of big moments. Cake Parade, an art show at Ipso Gallery in downtown Sioux Falls, paired 5 bakers with 5 artists. These pairs came together to inspire each other to create an art piece to go with an edible work of art. For this series, I played with moments in our life when we might eat cake alone, or what it might look like if we did.
The baker I was paired with was the best in the world - my mother, Brenda Murtha. Our art was eerily similar.
Other Themes and Projects
Installation
Dear Diary was an exhibit that doubled as a 5,000 sq ft installation piece by erin murtha and Noelle Vainikka. Set in the 1990s and following a day in the life of a pre-teen/teenage girl, the exhibit played heavily advertising, consumerism, and memory. It let the viewer through a grocery store, past fast and convenience food, and through a fully furnished 'house'.
Color Study was created by sean hartka and erin murtha as a commentary on the Pantone colors of 2017 year and a subtle play on expected gender norms. This was an immersive installation complete with pink treats and blue treats for our guests. As a fun bonus I conducted a short musical social experiment to keep myself engaged. I do not have anything beyond my anecdotal data on this.
Lucid Dreaming by sean hartka and erin murtha was a surprising and small dreamscape of a cat with big goals and even bigger adventures. They fell in love with a boring room that had a little cut out with a light inside with a little string to pull. They transformed the cutout into a dreamscape for a felted cat.
Chatroom was a 100% independent team vision between Sean Hartka and erin murtha. Chatroom was an interactive experience hidden in a closet where gallery goers engaged in talk and found (dis)comfort in strangers for a structured 7 minutes of small and big talk with no crutch of technology. A play off of the chat rooms of ye olden days, social media, IRL conversations, and a nod to the "7 minutes in heaven" game of youth.
Digital
A play with the digital realm. This are where I am at my most playful. Rarely a day goes by that I haven't doodled SOMETHING... often on napkins, coasters, post-it notes... A lot of time I get inspiration just from my own sketches or drawlings (as I like to call them). I think not forgetting what it is like to have that childlike wonder and freedom of expression is important in my artistic process and I'll typically refine and re-work for textile pieces, which require more control.
