Local artist prefers a living canvas

Art is a family affair for Erin Ernst.

When she was a newborn, Ernst’s parents worked together on two wooden wall-hangings commissioned for Nokomis Groves. 

As a toddler, she often dipped a paintbrush in water and “painted” the wall while her mother worked on murals. Her high school ceramics teacher, who also taught her older sister and their mother in an adult class, used to say art was “in their genes.”

Now a mother of three, Nokomis native Ernst focuses her art on family, or more specifically, expecting families.

Ernst is the owner of Art And Body Sarasota, a painting business that specializes in henna, face painting and other body art — much of which is done on the stomachs of expecting mothers.

It all began when she was 40 weeks pregnant with her oldest and saw an image of a pregnant woman’s stomach adorned with henna online. She decided she wanted to do the same, so on her due date she headed to her sister’s house with a zip-lock bag of henna paste and asked her to apply it.

“She had no previous experience with henna, but being artistic herself, and having iced enough cakes to have some comfort level with the baggie, she snipped the corner and gave me a beautiful design,” Ernst says.

Ernst enjoys a variety of artistic mediums, but using the body as a canvas became particularly appealing to her when she became a mother. She has a fascination with the transformation women go through during pregnancy and a passion for creating art that focuses on maternity — especially  because she believes American culture doesn’t support mothers.

“My henna work came about as a way to celebrate women in pregnancy,” she says. “My desire is to empower women and show their strength.”

The process of creating “belly art” begins with getting to know the mother and what she wants the focus of the artwork to be. Ernst creates a design, and soon what was meant to be a celebratory experience doubles as a relaxing one.

She says mothers don’t often get time to themselves, so the one to two hours it takes to sit and do the painting is a chance for them to unwind and reflect.

This reflection is particularly therapeutic for Laura Gilkey, a friend of Ernst’s who lost her son, Benjamin, to acute lymphoblastic leukemia in February. She does mourning henna sessions with Ernst in which she gets designs on her hands that remind her of Benjamin.

“It’s been a beautiful experience to have Erin’s work depicting divine moments I’ve been blessed with since my son’s death,” Gilkey says. “Each design keeps our connection close, while reminding me that everything is impermanent. I’m so grateful to her.”

Ernst also paints pregnant “belly casts” and canvas works depicting expecting mothers. The walls of her home studio are adorned with everything from a turtle-covered plaster stomach mold to a painting of a mermaid mother-to-be, signifiers of the wide range of symbols that can be used within the subject of maternity.

She also does face painting, henna and other body painting at everything from bachelorette parties to corporate meetings.

The three children who call her mother are just as artistic.

Ernst says her kids love to do henna. They saw her giving herself temporary henna tattoos, and now it’s something they do for fun.

But just because kids can do it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Ernst finds that working with henna can be much harder than other mediums such as painting because the paste dries quickly, so there’s little room for error. It’s not like painting when you can work on one section and return to the other a few minutes later.

“If the mistake can’t be easily mended, I get creative and change the design a little — add a flower or something,” she says.

Ernst says she learned this trick from her mother, who often painted small flowers over pesky stains on her clothes growing up.

Despite its obstacles, body art is fulfilling for Ernst.

“Everyone’s body is slightly different, so I enjoy the challenge of the constant changing of my human canvas,” she says. “I get bored easily, so having to creatively solve any problems that arise keeps me on my toes.”

Ernst says she’s always been an introvert, which in turn makes her more of an observer. She’s a fan of people watching because she enjoys wondering what people have been through and trying to relate to them by deducing their emotions,  which makes her art even more enjoyable.

“Capturing this feeling and translating it through my hands onto paper or canvas is very fulfilling,” she says. “Even without speaking, the body has so much to say.”