P Mary Manrod – Q1 Art Competition – Artist Portfolio Magazine

• Artist Portfolio Magazine – Q1 Art Competition
• P Mary Manrod – Chandler, AZ

P. Mary Manrod has always had a passion for all things artistic. She has loved music, dance and the visual arts since childhood. She studied music and writing in high. In her early 30’s, she took a 6 week ceramic art course from a couple of nuns in their basement and with that work, was juried into a gallery in Rockford, Illinois. From that point on she had found her bliss. Ever since, she has been making art and has had showings in galleries in the Midwest and throughout the Southwest. However, as a single mother, she needed a steady income to support herself and her son.
She attended colleges in Illinois, New Mexico and Arizona. Always working in art classes with the courses she needed for an eventual career in crime scene investigation. She became a forensic technician assisting a forensic pathologist in all functions pertaining to performing autopsies. Eventually, She became a fingerprint technician with the Phoenix Police Department. All through those times, she created art. Health issues and a stroke from an automobile accident ended her career in criminology.
Her life is now dedicated to her passion for art. She has worked in various mediums throughout the years. She has experience with fused glass, handmade glass beads, welded steel and ceramics. She’s created mixed metal jewelry with gem stones, painted with oils, acrylics and water colors, as well as worked with graphic ink, colored pencils, any anything else that inspires her. Most of her paintings are abstract or distortions, a bending of reality or a blend of photorealism into surrealism, and playing with the eye. Presently, Her focus is mostly on painting she is also creating a series with bass wood carvings conjoined with paintings.
“My studies of the human body, anatomy and physiology, and pathology were very helpful and fascinating giving me a real understanding for both of my career paths. Whether in criminalistics, sculpture, or painting, a good knowledge of the structure and function of the face and body is necessary in creating expressive and accurate movement in the face and body. It is also helpful in properly distorting those images. I paint or sculpt those images as if I am massaging the body with paint, flame or in clay.” P. Mary Manrod
Teaching art is also a passion. As a volunteer, she taught in the Art Masterpiece Program with Mesa Public Schools and taught art to elementary grades. Several of her private art students, age 11 – 15 are working in water colors, mixed media and sketching. She has also done volunteer teaching with Art from Lana’s Heart, teaching forty students to raise money for art programs for abused children.