Eric Skadson is a visual artist and Navy veteran based in Austin, Texas. He earned an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2024. His work examines identity through themes of nationality, patriotism, and grief, using photography to explore the human condition.
His MFA exhibition, smells like curry, explores the tension of being American while estranged from one’s ethnic background. The work traces a personal narrative while prompting viewers to consider how absence and identity are constructed.
Skadson was awarded the Distinguished Graduate Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 2024. His work has been recognized in Sigma’s 60th Anniversary Photo Contest (2022) and exhibited at the Trout Museum of Art (2022) and the Center for Fine Art Photography (2024). His work was published in The Sun Magazine (2022 & 2025).
In recent years, Skadson has learned to reconnect with black and white photography as a means of adapting to the onset of a visual impairment derived from a medical condition that inhibits him from working in color consistently. Latest projects such as Familial Roots (2026), the zine, Gentleman and Scoundrels: A Pre-pandemic Tribute to 6th Street, ATX (2025), and Unrestricted (2026) celebrate this aesthetic.
Awards:
2023
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowship Recipient
2022
SIGMA 60th Anniversary - Honorable Mention
Artist Talks:
2024
Determinant Reflections, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
Artists Now!, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
Exhibitions:
2024
Determinant Reflections, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
Wonder, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
Nostalgia, Millepiani Exhibition Space, Rome, ITL
2023
Revisiting the Family Album, Stories that Bind Us, Fort Collins, Center for Fine Art
Photography, Fort Collins, CO
13th Annual CoPa Member's Show, Walker's Point Center for the Arts, Milwaukee, WI
Mint Condition, MidwestNice Art, Aberdeen, SD
2022
TMA Contemporary, Trout Museum of Art, Appleton, WI
Surveillance Society, Millepiani Exhibition Space, Rome, ITL
The Hazards, MidwestNice Art, Aberdeen, SD
49th Annual Juried Show, Union Gallery, UWM, Milwaukee, WI
Collaborations:
Crossing Over, 2024. Poetry by Jarret Sharp and Photography by Eric Skadson.
Featured Work & Publications: