For this article we asked the artist members of Manhattan Arts International online art gallery to share special memories so you could learn more about them. We asked, when did you know you wanted to be an artist? At what age was your passion ignited? Their replies are as compelling and diverse as their artwork. Please visit the artists’ pages and websites. Contact them directly to purchase and exhibit their artwork. The artists are featured in the order in which they replied to our questions.

This article was published in 2018 and has been updated with new artwork by some of the artists.

Manhattan Arts International Members Share Fond Memories

Lisa Freidus

“Late bloomer” best describes my journey into the art world! I was forty when I viewed a TV announcement which offered adult art classes at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Massachusetts. At the time I was designing rice paper collages, but had a strong desire to evolve as an artist in additional mediums. The courses in drawing, monotype, oil, and watercolor eventually became a joyful catalyst for my renown whimsical 3 D Mixed Media Assemblages.

Yvonne Welman

As a child I won a coloring contest. I knew then I wanted to do something creative. I became a teacher in art and art history. With children there was no time left but something in the back of my head kept saying ‘It will come later’. In my fifties I started drawing and painting, took art courses and started to take my business seriously. I became an artist; however, I don’t think of myself as an artist. I just think about painting.

Nancy Staub Laughlin

I had an inkling that I wanted to be an artist in the seventh grade, but it was confirmed in tenth grade. My art teachers in high school were always amazed at my talent, (before I was). They gave me the confidence to be bold and use my talent to its fullest. I flourished in art school where one teacher said I was twenty years ahead of my time and haven’t stopped since.

Charlotte Shroyer

Fifty-five years ago my passion for painting was planted by chance. I had never painted and was surprised to receive A+ for a painting project in an art class for teaching certification. For the next 35 years I dabbled in art while a teacher and college professor in another discipline. A serendipitous trip to the art community of Taos, New Mexico, at age 60 convinced me art was to become my passion and my business.

Bren Sibilsky

Throughout my life I always had a pencil in my hand. Drawing was my favorite way to communicate. At the age of eight I asked my parents if I could attend art school instead of public education, showing them the cartoon ad I had found in the back of a magazine. My parents said art was a wonderful hobby, but not a career. I disagreed. As an adult I went on to Art College.

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