Although Erin Stump completed a fine arts degree, near the end of her schooling she decided that she was much more excited about presenting other people's work than pursuing her own practice. Not necessarily wanting to work within the museum sector, Erin moved to Toronto with the intention of opening her own commercial gallery.
Before venturing out on her own, Erin worked at Katharine Mulherine Contemporary Art Projects in Queen West. "In this field you tend to go through apprenticeships or mentoring systems to get to the point where you're ready to open your own space," Erin explains. After four years of work with Katharine, Erin opened up her own space, ESP.
"I really fought against having a gallery with my own name, even though that's the norm," Erin explains of ESP's name. "But then I worked it out that Erin Stump Projects made the acronym ESP, and I was very excited about that. Just the other day I was looking at the horoscope for my birthday, and it said that I was born with the powers of ESP!"
