Give artist Katie Manning a portrait of your beloved pet and watch her bring the personality of your best friend alive. From a very young age, Katie has always loved to draw and throughout her school years, art was always her “absolute favourite” subject. It became her focus and she went on to do a degree in textiles and surface decoration. Inspired by patterns, nature, textures and mixed media surfaces, she experimented with materials and layering methods, finding that “the value, joy and excitement are always in the process of creating and making, building and layering of ideas and practical process.”
After art college, Katie qualified to teach Secondary Art education, embarking on a career teaching Art Textiles and Art in secondary schools. She found herself loving it, and discovered teaching to be a privileged job where she has the opportunity to see children flourishing, helping them to open their minds and express their creativity. Katie believes Art is accessible to all and that, as a teacher, it has been her “job to make that so”.
Katie went through a profound transformation of healing at a cellular level and now is combining her art and her newfound love of seeing people healed and pursuing their passions and gifts. As Katie paints and draws, she continues to teach her belief that there is a natural light that shines within when you share your talents.
Katie currently lives and works in England as an artist and an art teacher. Moving back to the UK after teaching, living and having a family in Singapore, Katie re-discovered the her love of drawing, beginning her own business where she recreates photos, turning them into works of art using a range of media and technique. Her work has initially focused around pencil drawings of pets, but as she says, "It is incredibly early days", and she is "very excited about where this may go”.
Read about Katie Manning and her creative journey in Wholly Natural Issue #9,
