Erin Swanson was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1977. As a child, she experimented with pastels, colored pencils, and watercolors. She graduated from North Central High School in 1995. In 1999 she earned her B.F.A. degree in painting from Ball State University. Swanson earned a second bachelor degree in Art Education from Herron Art School and became certified to teach K-12 in 2005.

Swanson currently teaches at the Zionsville SullivanMunce Cultural Center, and has taught at the Indianapolis Art Center and the Anderson Fine Art Center as well assisted in art classes at VSA arts of Indiana. For the past three years, she has taught in the public school system.

She is a natural born explorer and traveler and loves a spontaneous road trip every so often. Her interests in developing creative ideas for her work include observing science and nature, inspired writing, looking for patterns in society, investigating dreams, and abstract thinking.