After growing up in Michigan, James Erickson earned his B.A. at The University of Virginia while running varsity track and cross country. He was a Lawn Resident at U.V.A. and received the Sullivan Award and Aunspaugh Art Fellowship upon graduation. In 2011, James earned his M.F.A. at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where he studied among the nation’s best contemporary painters. He served as the Art Director at The Heights School in Maryland from 2011-2016. James began teaching and coaching at the Woodberry Forest School in 2016 and serves as Chairman of the Visual Arts Department and holds the Virginia B. and Joseph M. Mercer 1924 Mastership of Art. He lives on campus with his wife Jenna and their seven children.

Erickson’s paintings explore the space between realism and abstraction bringing to mind the ephemeral and enduring qualities of nature. Content and inspiration derive from his Catholic faith and the people and places of his immediate surroundings in rural Virginia.