Erika Navarrete was born and raised in the town of Visalia in the San Joaquin Valley of California. She received her BFA in Painting and Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2003 and her MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2008. Navarrete is currently an instructor at the University of Evansville and the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville. She maintains an active studio practice investigating relationships between people and the structure of the home through the mediums of painting, drawing and printmaking and exhibits her work locally and nationally.