The Leeds Arts Council announced late last week in a release that it will honor Marie Manning, of Wattsville, with a reception to open the December exhibit of her paintings.
Manning said Monday that she’s been preparing for some time.
“I’m delighted that they called and asked me to exhibit, and I’m looking forward to Sunday afternoon,” she said. “I’ve worked so hard the last couple of months getting ready.”
Manning, a former teacher, library media specialist and administrator at Duran Jr. High School in Pell City, has 32 years of experience in the county as an educator. For much of that time, she says, she’s been an artist as well.
“I’ve been off and on for about 25 years,” she said. “My husband passed away, and Margaret Mongold, who’s from Pell City, just decided that would be a good hobby for me. She got me in a class she was taking, that she was hosting in her home that Wayne Spradley taught. That’s how I started.”
Manning studied watercolor painting with Spradley and oil painting with John Lonnergan, all in Pell City.
Her first painting, she says, was a covered bridge.
“I still have it,” she said. “It is not the best painting in the world, but I was tickled with it. It was really kind of pitiful, but I loved it.”
She called Spradley and Lonnergan “just tops in their field.”
“I’m sure they don’t think I’m their star pupil, but I appreciate their efforts in trying to teach me,” she said. “They’re good folks and excellent artists.”
Manning says she’ll be bringing 17 pieces with her to the exhibit, which begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Leeds Theater and Arts Center on Parkway Drive in downtown Leeds. The LAC is also hosting its annual Christmas Open House Tour on Sunday, with tickets available at the arts center.
For more information on Sunday’s events or any of the upcoming events at the LAC, call 205-699-1892.
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