Carla Ann Erickson-Moss, Sculptor & Designer

Carla has been sculpting in bronze for many years. She has also had a successful career in painting and printmaking. Her first job after attending Montana State University was with Glacier Gallery, a beautifully restored historical barn Kalispell, Montana. Kalispell is called “home” although she was born in San Francisco.

Growing up in Northwest Montana near Glacier National Park, made her a bit of a tomboy. She says, “I grew up riding a neighbor’s horse at 6 and later at 8 got my own horse, Knobby, an ancient cow pony.” I began getting younger horses and was training them for 4-H club Golden Spurs. I was introduced to shooting a bow competitively, and also guns as well as some girl-stuff such as tap dancing and piano! I even read our neighbor’s Boy Scout magazines, “Boys Life” and learned so much. My dad had 3 girls before he finally had a boy so he had to practice on us by teaching us fishing, hunting, sports, swimming and skiing and being able to survive in the great outdoors. We all loved it and it has been useful in my career and what I love to do for my ‘down time’.” It was a wonderful childhood in which love of nature and animals became a way to express herself in her artwork. “I was a bit of a Huckleberry Finn and a little bit Annie Oakley, I’m told by relatives and neighbors.” I enjoyed rafting down the creek on a “kid-made” pile of sticks and wood tied together with hay twine. Such adventures!

Carla’s educational background is in the arts. First, she attended Montana State University for 4 years majoring in Interior Design. For a few years she lived in Hawai’i, on Maui, working for a small gallery and later helped build the only bronze casting foundry on Maui. After moving to San Jose, CA, she attended San Jose State University and received a BA in Studio Art. She is also a graphic designer with a studio called Black Dog Design Studios.

Her work can be highly abstract, incorporating kinetic arts, moving wheels, and industrial elements or a tiny little bronze fawn lying in ivy. Her largest sculpture to date is 17 feet tall of 2 flying bald eagles and her smallest is 2 inches tall, a little pair of wood ducks. Her work is found all over the Untied States and even in Australia and the Philippines.

In Milpitas, all you have to do is go to the City Hall and see “Cartwheels” on the front lawn or “The Flute Player” in the pond in the back. Listings in “Who’s Who in America” and “Who’s Who in the West” are just 2 of many honors that is she is proud of. She has received Bests of Show in several juried art shows and is often asked to speak to groups concerning bronze casting.

She has served as a Public Art Commissioner for the City of Milpitas, been a board member of Milpitas Alliance for the Arts, and an active Signature Member of Women Artists of the West- HYPERLINK "http://www.waow.org" www.waow.org. Contact her for any size projects with your ideas HYPERLINK "http://www.carlasfineart.com" www.carlasfineart.com HYPERLINK "mailto:imagine@carlasfineart.com" imagine@carlasfineart.com or 408-499-2561.