Tucson-based painter Erinn Kennedy captures the quiet poetry of the Sonoran Desert in vibrant, joy-infused brushstrokes. Drawing inspiration from the landscapes, objects and creatures she encounters daily, her work is a love letter to the place she calls home. “I paint the objects and places that I love and are a part of my everyday life,” she shares. 

A graduate of the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, Kennedy’s early influences include French Impressionists Henri Matisse and Paul Cézanne, as well as British painters Ben and Winifred Nicholson. Their bold shapes and rich color palettes echo through her paintings, which often blend intimate still-life elements with sweeping desert vistas.

Kennedy works out of the historic Steinfeld Warehouse Gallery and Studios in Tucson’s Warehouse Arts District. When she’s not in her studio, she can be found crafting handmade mosaic tiles at Santa Theresa Tileworks, sketching outdoor scenes in her Dunbar Spring neighborhood, or playing Irish music on the button accordion with her band, The Shanties.