Born and raised in Orange Mound, Eric developed a passion and love for art at an early age. Being a product of Memphis City Schools, Eric became an Art Educator with Memphis Shelby County Schools. He graduated from The LeMoyne-Owen College, a prominent HBCU in Memphis with a Bachelor of Fine Arts under the leadership and instruction of Professor Phillip R. Dotson and received a Master’s of Arts in Education from Union University. As an art educator, Eric has helped thousands of students reach their fullest potential with their artwork and over the last 18 years, a career that has been very rewarding and long suffering.

Inspired by his Christian faith, Eric has taken his work beyond just creating art and taking photos. It has always been his intent to honor the past and preserve the future through my imagery. For this cause, Eric finds it comforting and rewarding unearthing old African American photographs and Black Americana that capture or narrate the black experience. He also believes that anyone can take a picture with a camera or phone, but it is in the aesthetics of creating images or creating artwork that you really see and feel that passion you want others to feel when they look at your work. It has always been Eric’s belief that photographs are meant to be enjoyed and framed…not living on a computer or phone.

Artists such as Romare Bearden, Deborah Roberts, Betye Saar, and photographers James Van Der Zee, Ernest Withers, and Gordon Parks influence Eric. In trying to find his identity and craft a lane for himself as an artist and photographer, Eric’s work combines mixed-media applications with digital media illustrations”. Passion driven by purpose is what feeds his creativity. Through his artwork, it is Eric’s goal to convey heritage, resilience, and nostalgia by creating visual stories that weave elements of the past with hope for the future.