Eric Loftin is a mixed media artist from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Being from the Pacific Northwest, Eric draws much influence from the environment in which he grew up and is especially fond of the Santiam Canyon area. Eric holds a Masters Degree in Education from Marylhurst University that was completed in July of 2018 and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art from Western Oregon University in June of 2015, where he earned awards for outstanding achievement in studio art (drawing) as well as art history. In June of 2015 Eric was nominated by the Western Oregon University Art Faculty to represent the university in an exhibition at Blackfish Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Eric finished both of his degrees while continuing to teach high school art. Eric currently teaches art and ceramics at a public high school in Oregon.
Eric’s work has been shown in various juried exhibitions in Portland, Monmouth, Mill City, Lake Oswego, and Salem, Oregon, as well as Denver, Colorado in November, 2015. In 2012 his work was shown at Saitama University in Saitama, Japan as part of a Western Oregon University exhibition. Eric was named the featured artist for the Flora and Fauna exhibition at Splendorporium Gallery in Portland, Oregon in April 2016. In 2017, Eric was selected as one of nine participants in a juried exhibition, entitled Symbols, in Salem, Oregon at the Salem Art Association Annex. Most recently, Eric was named one of Culture Hustle’s ten featured artists for the one-year anniversary of their Black 2.0 product line. In February of 2020, Eric had a solo exhibition at Lunaria Gallery in Silverton, Oregon before the country was put into lockdown due to Covid-19.
Eric continues to build a body of work that explores the physicality of materials through plays of color, contrast, and texture. Eric presents materials to the viewer, celebrating them for what they are in a composition. Process is vital in Eric’s work as juxtaposition, discovery, symbolism and experimentation provide momentum in creating. His most recent series of works explore the notion of time through the building of layers of visual information in abstract compositions. This series, entitled The History of a Thing (HoaT), was the focus for Eric’s solo exhibition at Lunaria Gallery in Silverton, Oregon in February, 2020. Works in this series include some of the most highly pigmented matte black paint available for artists on the market today. While Eric continues to add to the HoaT series still today, he is currently exploring mixed media collage compositions that incorporate text, contrast, color, and found images.
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