E L Schmidt's work in printmaking, collage is an ongoing investigation and offers perspective on the intersection of science and metaphysics, to states of consciousness and to a wider spectrum of interrelated natural phenomena. She navigated fluidly between and often integrates visual and performance media. Schmidt attended the University of South Florida in Tampa where she received her B.F.A. She pursued post-baccalaureate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and later earned her M.F.A. from the University of South Florida. While in graduate program she founded Vital Spark Performance Art Group, a collaborative interdisciplinary ensemble that has traveled to major U.S. cities and throughout Europe.

Schmidt has been a guest artist at the Honghua School in Guangham, China , Anderson House: Harvard Club in Wash. D.C., San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, Elon University, Elon, N.C. and a commissioned artist for the Southern Graphics Council Conference, GraphicStudio, at University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. Among the numerous awards she has received acknowledging her unique approach to art and multi-media theater are accolades at international dance festivals in Prague, Czech Republic (1999); Cecena, Italy (2001); and Barcelona, Spain (2006).

Erika’s work is in numerous private and public collections and has been widely shown in national juried and invitational exhibitions including : Sana Center, Stowe, VT. Chester Gallery, College of New England, Saco Museum, Saco, Maine, Concord Art Center, Concord, Mass, Metro Gallery, Burlington City Arts, Burlington, Vt. The Contemporary Art Museum , Tampa, Fl., The Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center NY, NY. The Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, Mass., The Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL. The Thompson Gallery, Lincoln, Mass. BIgTown Gallery, Rochester, Vt. The Feick Art Center at Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vt., Christine Price Gallery, Castleton University, Castleton, Vermont EO ART LAB, Chester, Conn. Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, FL., ART CHICAGO, ART HAMPTONS, Slater Museum in Norwich, Conn. Baymaro Studio, Duxbury Massachusetts, NEW AMERICAN PAINTINGS