Erin Luman, (b.1977 in MA) is intent on trying not to forget. As a young person, she methodically catalogued her experiences in journals. When she got older, she collected keepsakes as a way to jog her memory; She’d pick up a stone from the ground after a first glance with a crush or she’d pocket a bottle cap to attempt to hold onto the feeling of watching fireworks in the thick darkness of summer.

In later years she was diagnosed as having problems with her working memory, so now it seems that her inspiration to try to catalog life’s moments feels like an obvious response to what she’s always known to be true - Her memories don’t stick.

Her artwork explores the same thread of memory. This frustration with impermanence has sharpened her focus on overlooked places and objects. So whether it’s your grandmothers 100 year old bathroom sink, old New England beach cottages as the sea keeps coming closer, or the view of the marsh as it turns gold in the fall, she’s painting for herself and for you to remember.

Luman uses acrylic paint on cradled wood panel in her seaside Massachusetts studio. She also sometimes uses maps from the 1970s/80s (folded and worn) for texture below the paint surface on the smaller work. After enjoying a couple sold out shows with the beach cottages, she continues her exploration of memory within different subject matter.