Maria Erikson

Maria Erikson is an Assistant Professor in the Print and Drawing department at Oslo National Academy of Arts, where she teaches printmaking. She also previously served as a visiting lecturer (2021-2022) and technician/head of print workshop (2015-2021) at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Born in 1985, Erikson maintains an active artistic practice alongside her academic work, with studios in both Tallinn and Oslo.

Erikson's educational background includes a PhD in Art and Design from the Estonian Academy of Arts (2025-ongoing), an MFA in printmaking from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki (2022), and a master printer certificate from Tamarind Institute (2015). Her research interests focus on identity, cultural narratives, and materiality through craft and process-driven inquiry. She disassembles and reconfigures materials, bodies, and narratives, reimagining familiar and uncertain structures. Her work embodies the female experience while probing the broader human condition, bodily presence, and its (un)comfortable affinities.

Erikson's artistic output centers on lithography and printmaking, with particular focus on the relationship between the artist's body and materials. Her recent works like the 'Soft Touch on The Deckle' series (2023) examine the materiality of print, emphasizing small movements of water and oil, and the meeting points between surfaces of stone, paper, and the artist's body. She has developed expertise in creating her own lithographic materials, including tusche, and explores how materials record and remember interactions, creating abstract landscapes that reflect geological strata and human touch.

• Wiiralt Prize, Encouragement Award (2025)
• Estonian Printmaker of the Year (2023)
• Eduard Wiiralt Grant (2021)
• Cultural Endowment of Estonia working grant (2025)
• Ann-Margret Lindell Foundation Scholarship (2021)

Erikson has curated significant exhibitions including 'Amphibian State (of Mind)' (2024) at the Estonian Academy of Arts Gallery and served as exhibition designer for the 19th Tallinn Print Triennial (2025). She has participated in numerous international residencies including at Björkö Konstnod (Sweden, 2022) and Grafikwerkstatt Dresden (Germany, 2017), and has exhibited widely across Europe and North America. Her work is held in collections such as Jyväskylä Art Museum (Finland), Mölndals stad (Sweden), and Statens Kulturråd (Sweden).