ABOUT THE ARTIST

My name is Erica Dinkelacker (nee Mysinger). I was born in Toledo, Ohio, USA in 1992. My first memories of making art are building “clay” animals out of a mud pit in our backyard, drying them out on my swingset, and coloring them with washable child’s paint. I always sought comfort in creating and still yearn to do just that. My first major public piece was a portrait of Marilyn Monroe that sold for the highest amount in a charity auction where the proceeds went towards the beautification of my hometown of Perrysburg, Ohio when I was just in high school. As a teen volunteer at Hospice of Northwest Ohio and the Secretary of my high school's art club senior year, I began a program called “Paints for Patients,” where art club members made holiday pictures and cards that went directly to patients at Hospice. It was here that I found my love for art as a form of therapy and outreach. 

I went on to study Fine Arts at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio beginning in 2011. Here I transferred into the Psychology program during my sophomore year and switched Fine Arts to my minor in order to continue working with art as a form of therapy. During this time, I worked as a summer intern for Cincinnati Artworks, specifically with the Hero Design Company, creating custom superhero insignias with and for kids facing medical, physical, and emotional hardships in the community. My senior capstone project involved assisting with designs and creating art for an underserved women’s clinic within the inner city of Cincinnati. 

After college, I joined the Army Reserves and married an active duty service member, so I have the opportunity to live and explore a different city every few years. My first city out of college to call home was Colorado Springs, Colorado, where I photographed many beautiful places in the Western United States and now use as inspiration for recent paintings. Next, I created several small holiday works and oil paintings which sold to an eclectic shop sponsoring local artists in Clarksville, Tennessee in 2018. The shop, Journey’s Eye, showcased two country music artist’s portraits for a year until my next move, as well. I was then commissioned for several paintings for military members within the Fort Campbell community. I have since worked in Columbus, GA, and Fort Leavenworth, KS, where I am honing my skills as a landscape painter, primarily with oils on canvas or acrylic on wood rounds, and charcoal portraits. I have a keen interest in producing works for clients that have a special connection to the subject. My interest in art as a therapy not only applies to the joy I find in reproducing beautiful people and things, but the positive feelings my work inspires in the viewer. For more information on my art, please contact my business at em.fine.custom.art@gmail.com.