Erin Gabriel
Founder of Spade Dragon Studio
About the Artist
Erin Gabriel is a printmaker, illustrator, and designer based in North Carolina. Originally drawn to storytelling through fiction and poetry, Erin began creating visual art while developing characters and worlds for a supernatural novel. What began as a way to visualize stories quickly evolved into a lifelong practice of storytelling through image.
Erin later studied Studio Art at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, graduating with a BFA in Studio Art. During that time she explored a wide range of mediums before finding a deep connection to printmaking and digital illustration. Today her work lives at the intersection of traditional and digital processes, combining linocuts, screenprinting, and hand-drawn compositions with digital tools.
But art didn’t begin as a career plan.
It began as a necessity.
The Work
I make art when I don’t know where else to put something.
I started because I was tired of choking on the things that I never said. Some emotions don’t dissolve with time. Some identities don’t fit the version of you that people are comfortable with.
So I gave it shape.
I’ve always been drawn to myth — not as escape, but as architecture. Dragons. Sigils. Archetypes. Symbols that feel older than language itself.
But the work isn’t fantasy.
It’s confrontation.
It explores identity — who we are beneath performance. It explores power — the kind that doesn’t announce itself. And it explores restraint — the tension of holding yourself together and what happens when that control slips.
A lot of my work focuses on feminine intensity — not softness, not spectacle, but presence. Faces that refuse explanation. Eyes that stare back. Bodies that transform instead of collapse.
When text appears in my work, it isn’t decoration. It’s interruption — the thought that slipped through, the truth that refuses to stay quiet.
Spade Dragon Studio grew from that same philosophy.
The spade is a personal symbol — representing versatility, strategy, and the idea of being a jack of all trades. In card games like Rummy, the Queen of Spades can dominate the entire game if played correctly, but if left unused it becomes the card that loses the round. To me, it represents the idea that potential only matters when it’s acted upon.
The dragon comes from Chinese mythology, a creature I’ve always felt deeply connected to — symbolizing transformation, imagination, and power.
Through Spade Dragon Studio I collaborate with people from all kinds of backgrounds, creating artwork, branding, posters, prints, and design work that carries a strong sense of narrative and symbolism.
At the center of everything I create is storytelling.
Whether it’s a print, a poster, a logo, or an illustration, every piece is part of a larger mythology — one that feels less invented and more uncovered.
I don’t make art just to decorate a wall.
I make art to confront something.
And if you see yourself in it…
that’s not an accident.
— Erin Gabriel