Erika DeRoberts Is Endlessly Creative

New Anderson Artists Guild member Erika DeRoberts has a knack for reinvention. Maybe that comes from a childhood in which the family moved every year across North America for her dad’s engineering job in the automotive industry. “It creates resiliency and gives you a chance to try a lot of different things,” she said. In one place, she hung with the cowboy kids; in another, she joined the chess club. In another, she was a cheerleader.

She attended High Point University in North Carolina but dropped out when she got custody of her younger brother. She worked a number of different jobs, from trucking to waitressing, before finding real estate at age 25, eventually working her way up to senior vice president at Coldwell Banker before leaving it behind in 2020 to become a full-time artist.

It was a rewarding career, she said. Among her accomplishments was creating a new home division in which she worked with builders and developers to identify land, along with running a marketing program and doing sales projections. As a broker, she also did a lot of training and mentorship.

But in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic and her own health issues, something changed. “I reflected on the meaning of my life,” she said. “I really wanted to be doing art. I felt called to move in a new direction.” So she changed her lifestyle completely, downsizing her house, paying off her car, and building up her savings. “Freedom of time is the true richness,” she said.

Yet she has brought the same drive and ingenuity to her artistic career. For instance, someone asked her to paint a mural, which led to another and another, and now she has decorated the walls inside or outside of Greenville’s Stax Omega, Condado Taco, the Chamber of Commerce, a history museum, a daycare, and more. At Voodoo Brewing Company, she created 20 murals, including one that the owner liked so much she had it tattooed on her arm (see middle left image above).

Once, during a hotel stay, she sat in the courtyard sketching the place, then posted the drawing online and tagged it (see top left image above). Soon, someone from the hotel called her and asked to buy the piece. But DeRoberts, ever the negotiator, ended up selling not just one but five images.

Even before she became a full-time artist, DeRoberts found a way to monetize her artistry. For a while, she and her husband had a cornhole business, with her husband building the games and Erika painting them. She also made custom quilts during one of her maternity leaves.

Perhaps her artistic impulses come from her grandparents. After World War II, her grandmother, a seamstress, made wedding dresses out of parachutes. Her grandfather, an injured veteran who used a walking stick, carved intricate designs on a series of canes.

DeRoberts’ preferred medium is acrylic, and her style is abstract. Much of her inspiration comes from nature. One piece was the result of an experience two years ago in the Grand Canyon when she hiked it rim to rim in one day. “I felt the energy all around me as I walked through the canyon,” she said, “I try to capture that energy in my landscape paintings.” The result was a new collection of paintings called Momentum of Light.”

A serious hiker, she takes people on guided hikes and outdoor adventures through her work with Revelation Wellness, an outdoor ministry. “Getting back to nature helps people reconnect to themselves.” It also continues to inspire her art.

For more information about DeRoberts, visit https://www.cherrylaneart.com/.