About Erin
Baltimore City
My drawings invite viewers to consider connections to physical spaces they inhabit. Whether the urban landscape of a city or the private interior of a home, I choose not to draw the occupants, and with their absence I hope to encourage the viewer to not only imagine those not shown, but also to ruminate on correlations to their own personal environments. In my shadow drawings I draw particular attention to the malleability of our relationship to space, through even the continuously variable… more
Jump to a project:
The Weight of Absence
This series of drawings depicts architectural structures located in the city of Baltimore, my hometown. This work initially stemmed from a place of loss. As I grieved the death of my father, who was an architect, I used representations of physical structures to attempt to create an external vessel to hold my immense feelings of grief. I found these structures by exploring the City on foot, by bike, or by car. By building space and form through the layering of charcoal marks, I created tonal landscapes, rendering both the city and my internal world. As the work progressed, I developed an increased interest in the interplay of presence and absence, where the tangible and intangible become intertwined.
-
The weight of absenceCharcoal and graphite on paper, 26" x 40", Private Collection
-
The intangible expanse of a last breathCharcoal and graphite on paper, 27" x 37", Private Collection
-
As if floatingCharcoal and graphite on paper, 38" x 26", Private Collection
-
Behind the swellCharcoal and graphite on paper, 42" x 28", Private Collection
-
Pimlico TowersCharcoal and graphite on paper, 17" x 17", Private Collection
-
Warehouse bridgesCharcoal and graphite on paper, 17" x 17", Private Collection
-
To have arrived at this placeCharcoal and graphite on paper, 18" x 18", Private Collection
-
To hold close until breakingCharcoal and graphite on paper, 102" x 35"
-
To remain unpreparedCharcoal and graphite on paper, 17" x 17"
-
Little white house on CharlesCharcoal and graphite on paper, 17" x 17", 2017, Private collection
The Weight of Absence (continued)
-
To remain unpreparedCharcoal and graphite on paper, 17" x 17"
-
Latrobe Homescharcoal and graphite on paper, 38” x 51”, 2017
-
Little white house on CharlesCharcoal and graphite on paper, 17" x 17", 2017, Private collection
-
What day is today?Charcoal and graphite on paper, 27" x 35", 2018, Private Collection
-
A home inheritedCharcoal and graphite on paper, 25" x 33", 2018
-
Eastern Pumping StationCharcoal and graphite on paper, 30” x 42.5”
-
Reptile HouseCharcoal and graphite on paper, 31” x 42.5”
East Baltimore Crankie
In January of 2018, David Native Son Ross and I performed a collaborative crankie. A crankie is a scrolled panorama, and for our performance I created 15 drawings of East Baltimore. As I cranked through the drawings, David performed a spoken word piece he specifically wrote to accompany the images. Included here is a video of the performance and a few of the drawings. Once the performance was completed, the crankie scroll was cut up and sold.
-
Erin Fostel and David Ross: "A Walk in Baltimore"Video created by Human Being Productions. Recording of crankie performance by Erin Fostel and David Native Son Ross at the Creative Alliance in January of 2018.
-
Patterson Park PagodaCharcoal and graphite on paper, 11" x 14"
-
Monument EastCharcoal and graphite on paper, 11" x 14"
-
Middle EastCharcoal and graphite on paper, 11" x 14"
-
Creative AllianceCharcoal and graphite on paper, 11" x 14"
-
S. Patterson Park AvenueCharcoal and graphite on paper, 11" x 14"
-
CantonCharcoal and graphite on paper, 11" x 14"
-
Baltimore CemeteryCharcoal and graphite on paper, 11" x 14"
-
Old Town MallCharcoal and graphite on paper, 11" x 14"
-
GreektownCharcoal and graphite on paper, 11" x 14"