Short Bio
Fourth generation wood carver. Experience in custom carving, time period ornamental, nature, and experimental. Fond of the art nouveau and deco movements.
Statement
The world of woodcarving has enchanted me since my very first memories. It’s a world where
wood can be transformed into any imagined figure or scene. I explore in materials of basswood,
cherry, and walnut to name a few with applied colors and leafing. Chisel marks are my brush
strokes. Sometimes I am led into 3D figures by a certain characteristic of the subject but mostly I
prefer 2D, what is more commonly called low relief carvings. This type of carving lends it’s self
as a an opportunity to tell a different kind of story. Low relief carving traditionally is used for
decorative ornamental works. It is with in the decorative arts,and artists like Marc Chagall,
Szasz Endre, Alfonse Mucha that inspire my treatment of the subject. I carve within dreams,
and memories. Using chisels and a mallet, I transform a plank of wood into a captured dance
Biography
Erika Scheer born 1976 in Chicago. She grew up with a wood carving heritage, and lived with
the sights and sounds of a wood shop. Her father was a master woodcarver from Budapest
Hungary with a family lineage.
At an early age Erika showed interest in the arts and started drawing and playing with clay in
her father’s shop. Her curiosity in the arts naturally gravitated to her father’s skilled trade. The
medium of wood, surrounded her environment and conversations. As she progressed with
drawing her father introduced various time periods and styles within the realm of ornamental
wood carving. Her interests landed in the period of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and the American
Arts and Crafts movement. With a strong intuition her father introduced her to artists that
complemented her taste. He also encourage exploration in other forms of art.
Throughout her teens she expected to attend art school, but found her heart was still in wood.
Her decision to become an apprentice for her father was completely natural.. There she learned
the handling of chisels, reading the direction of wood grain, and composition. Apprenticeship
was very hands on with fundamentals and repetitive exercises.
As a adult she was commissioned for various private homes around Southwest Florida. As she
gained invaluable experience she grew into her own style. An evolution and melding of styles
became her hallmark. Erika had a reptation for being tenacious and hard working. She was well
aware she was stepping into a predominantly male world, but it did not deter her. Her passion
for the medium and the adventure of the endless possibilities made those hurdles small.
She then met her future husband John Feher in 1997. They married three years later. Then a
decision was made to start a family of her own. She stepped away from her bench 2007 to raise
her five children and be present in her children’s lives. Two major moves were part of their story.
In 2010 they move to Ohio, then in 2018 to Wisconsin. They currently reside in Waupun
Wisconsin.
With her children at school age Erika found it was time to step behind the bench again. This
time as a full time artist. Picking up where she left off, she steps into the roll of woodcarver with
a fresh perspective. She now enters with the ability to dare to try what ever whims she can imagine.
