Cara Erskine

I drew this in a tiny attic apartment I rented. It was painted pistachio green (love) and had slanted ceilings, but because I am WNBA-sized I could only really stick to the middle areas of each room, but my dresser was against the wall and I would always hit my head on the slanted ceiling when using the dresser. As a result, I cared less and less that my clothes were put away in it. I have been drawn to Degas’ pastel drawings for a long time mostly because of the color popping because pastels just do that but really maybe more than that it was the bad-ass women and girls he drew that got me. The dancers, the acrobats. I realized as a teenager though the more I looked at Degas’ drawings he seemed like a real creeper so what better way to flip the bird at all that than by making this drawing of myself getting dressed in my apartment. ᴄᴀʀᴀ ᴇʀꜱᴋɪɴᴇ, ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴅʀᴇꜱꜱᴇᴅ, 2023, ᴄʜᴀʟᴋ ᴘᴀꜱᴛᴇʟ ᴏɴ ᴄᴏʟᴏʀᴇᴅ ᴘᴀᴘᴇʀ, 27x19 ɪɴᴄʜᴇꜱ ᴇᴅɢᴀʀ ᴅᴇɢᴀꜱ, ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ ᴀᴛ ʜᴇʀ ᴛᴏɪʟᴇᴛᴛᴇ, 1900-5, ᴘᴀꜱᴛᴇʟ ᴏɴ ᴛʀᴀᴄɪɴɢ ᴘᴀᴘᴇʀ, 29x28 ɪɴᴄʜᴇꜱ, ᴀʀᴛ ɪɴꜱᴛɪᴛᴜᴛᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴄʜɪᴄᴀɢᴏ #caraerskine #contemporarydrawing #worksonpaper #womenathletes

🏀 walk with me ⚽️ Pérez Art Museum, Miami March 19, 2026 – August 23, 2026 Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture “When the game ends, the air stays thick with the split energy on the field: one side is alive with the loud, sweaty joy of a win, while the other sits in the heavy, quiet replay of a loss. Whether they’re riding the high of a victory or the sting of defeat, those moments on the sidelines are where the game truly settles into their bones. In “Everybody, everybody,” Cara Erskine exalts a moment of ecstatic victory, critiquing misogynist news coverage of Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team’s 2010 celebrations, which were deemed “unladylike” in the media. Teammates merge in a champagne-soaked embrace, their bodies collapsing into a single, euphoric form that defiantly reclaims joy.” @pamm Cara Erskine “Everybody, everybody” Oil on canvas 2018 📸 Hank Willis Thomas, Guernica; Cara Erskine, Everybody, everybody; Martín Kazanietz, Una Chilena. #pamm #gitg #getinthegame #caraerskine

The world is a really violent and messed up place. Painting, Opening Day and the arrival of spring always give me a steady sense of hope for renewal and peace. I paint still lives of things that I live with-flowers, a mitt, shoes-because I know their contours and I’m around them all the time. I made this painting several years ago of my baseball mitt. My dad took me seriously when I told him at eight that I wanted to be a baseball player when I grew up. I played baseball with the old mitt in the garage that my brothers had used when they were small children. At ten, it was time for me to have my own mitt, so we went to Larry’s Sport Center (PDX staple). We walked into the store and I saw a brightly colored red mitt among a sea of brown mitts. I gravitated to it immediately and it felt serendipitous—Darryl Strawberry was my favorite player and Rawlings made a red mitt with his signature stamped in it—here it was! I think it was Richter that said painting is the highest form of hope, it sure feels that way to me. @rawlingssg 🎨 ⚾️ 🪻 Cara Erskine Mitt (Darryl Strawberry) 16x20 inches oil on canvas 2021

𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 opens today @pamm and runs from March 19-August 23, 2026 👟 I’ve long been the artist that didn’t quite make sense among athletes and the athlete that didn’t quite make sense among artists. I don’t know that I really minded because who among us is making sense? but there was a loneliness to it—the price of standing alone. Well, no more. I’m feeling the love amidst all these great artists and the community we have built for one another 🏀🖼️ Curated by Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design; Seph Rodney, independent curator and writer; and Katy Siegel, SFMOMA’s Research Director, Special Program Initiatives, it showcases paintings, sculptures, photographs, video and interactive installations by some of today's most important artists. @jdunlopfletcher @katysiegel.88 @sephsees Here is an excerpt from the 2025 review of "Get in the Game" by the brilliant @lucysternbach in @hyperallergic “The Interplay Between Art and Sports" "The exhibition, like the field or the racetrack, is not only a structure but an axis on which themes such as gender, everyday and superhuman prowess, value, controlled violence and pain, and the business of sport spin outward. Many of the works in Get in the Game explore or challenge sport's gendered division, transcending the tired notions of "inclusion" and "exclusion." Cara Erskine's "Everybody, Everybody" (2017-18) critiques misogynist news coverage of the Canadian women's Olympic hockey team in 2010, during which sports media deemed their raucous celebrations unladylike, by placing the party - one teammate dousing another with champagne, their faces close enough to be a single body - at the center of her euphoric painting." 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘌𝘳𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘠𝘉𝘖𝘋𝘠, 𝘌𝘝𝘌𝘙𝘠𝘉𝘖𝘋𝘠 62𝘹48 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘴 2018 #gitg #getinthegame #pamm #caraerskine #contemporarypainting

Super stoked to show this painting ꜱᴡᴇᴀᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴀᴄʀɪꜰɪᴄᴇ 🎨🏀 @boom_concepts opens Saturday 1-4 come by @emeraldcity_pgh @dskinsel @thomas_jenesis ɴᴀɴᴄʏ ʟɪᴇʙᴇʀᴍᴀɴ-ᴄʟɪɴᴇ 40x30 ɪɴᴄʜᴇꜱ ᴏɪʟ ᴏɴ ᴄᴀɴᴠᴀꜱ 2017/2026 #boomconcepts #sweatandsacrifice

🥇 🏒 🍾

HOCKEY IS HERE @milanocortina2026 I am so excited to be working with @supremedigitalny on this new limited edition archival pigment print. For every print sold during the Olympics I will donate $100 to @casasanjosepgh 🛑🧊 I was inspired to make this because of all the people who tell me they love the vibe of my painting “Everybody, everybody” that was on view in the exhibition “Get in the Game” @sfmoma @crystalbridgesmuseum Get the print and get in the game 🏒 🥅 Available at link in bio or @supremedigitalny Cara Erskine Everybody, everybody Edition of 25 Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm paper Signed and numbered by the artist 12x15 inches

There are only a few weeks left to see “Get in the Game” @crystalbridgesmuseum ! If you didn’t get to see it at @sfmoma and you can’t get to @crystalbridgesmuseum you’re in luck because it’s making another stop at a museum near you. “‘Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture,’ explores the powerful-and sometimes contentious-place of athletics in our communities. Through sports, artists can tell stories of the highs and lows of human experience: adrenaline-fueled passions and agonizing defeats, as well as our relationship with traditions and record-breaking achievements.” Curated by Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, SFMOMA’s Helen Hilton Raiser Curator of Architecture and Design; Seph Rodney, independent curator and writer; and Katy Siegel, SFMOMA’s Research Director, Special Program Initiatives, it showcases paintings, sculptures, photographs, video and interactive installations by some of today’s most important artists. Get in the Game was named one of the top 50 art exhibitions in the world by @hyperallergic for 2024. @sephsees @jdunlopfletcher @katysiegel.88 Cara Erskine “Everybody, everybody’ Oil on canvas 62x48 inches 2018 #heatedrivalry #gitg #sfmoma #crystalbridges #caraerskine

stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before

I was born in the Year of the Horse so I am def looking forward to 2026. 🐎 2024 was great, 2025 was great, “Get in the Game” traveled from SFMOMA to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. I went to Arkansas for the opening and the rolling hills and cows reminded me of a Corot painting. In 2026 “Get in the Game” travels again. I am grateful for another year to get in the game and live my dreams. I love being alive and lacing them up everyday 👟 🎨 🥂 sláinte