Erica Madden was born in Illinois but has spent most of her life living in Morristown, New Jersey. She took advantage of living close to New York City and ventured to see many art and cultural happenings there. She spent a month living in Brooklyn while taking summer courses at Pratt Institute, where she fell for photography. She continued her education at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where she graduated in 2008. While at MICA, Erica extended her studies across the Atlantic in Aix-en-Provence, France for four months. She took advantage of her high school French, a new culture, traveling, and pain au chocolate.
While maintaining her first love of photography, she divulged in an extra-medium affair when her passion for Fibers was ignited amidst the fabric, dues, and yarns of the department. She is continually exploring both mediums and her photography is becoming increasingly tactile, sculptural, and installation based. Her senior thesis project on furniture stores is fueling her passion for interior design, which she is exploring as a career.