Erin Whitman was born in San Diego, and grew up with a pencil in her hand. She graduated with honors from Humboldt State University in 2003 with degrees in Studio Art and Art History. After earning an MFA in Painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2006, she returned to Northern California to teach drawing and painting at her alma mater, as well as at College of the Redwoods. Deeply inspired by her students, she decided to leave Humboldt County in 2012 and embark on a project that explores our precarious moment in history. In 2012 and 2013 she has participated in artist residencies across the United States, such as the Wassaic Project, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and Ucross Foundation, and is developing a new body of work that investigates the mythology that shapes our cultural identity.