Erna Kikure possessed a knowledge of German, Russian, French and English. She graduated from the Latvian Academy of Arts, Riga, in 1932 with a Diploma in graphic arts, and then worked as an artist and an art teacher in a secondary school. After travelling to Finland and Paris, she continued her studies at the Antwerp Academy of Art in Belgium. In Australia, while continuing her work as an artist, she also began to write.