Erika Larskaya is an abstract artist working in acrylics and mixed media. Originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, she immigrated to NYC in the late 80s at the age of 21 determined to learn English and make a life for herself. She studied design at the American Business and Fashion Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina and had a brief career as an interior designer, but favored being home with her children and painting. She began exhibiting in 2008. Although she has studied formally and still enjoys some of the traditional, foundational processes such as figure drawing, her passion for experimentation and pushing boundaries has driven her to expand beyond the conventional and, over time, she has evolved her own, solo methodology and technique, driven by her desire to express things that are not seen, but rather felt. She finds inspiration in the work of other female artists who have faced adversity and societal restraints. She works out of her studio in northwestern CT.