Artists Registry
St Petersburg FL United States
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Artist's Statement
Statement of Work
Artist and philanthropist Richard Sean Manning is a prolific artist who works in a number of mediums, including ink, oil and acrylic, exotic and rare wood, metal and glass.
He is also an accomplished ceramic artist who works with up to five tons of clay each year to produce art that is sought after by private collectors and museums.
His mentors have been amongst an illustrious group of recognized artists such as Jun Kaneko and Don Reitz as well as some of the great masters of ceramics, including the late Rudy Autio, Paul Soldner and Peter Voulkos.
Over the years he has learned technique from Professor's John Balistreri of Bowling Green State University and Matt Long of the University of Mississippi. He also underwent an intensive independent study with Professor Brian Ransom at Eckerd College in St Petersburg, Florida.
Donates '9/11 Twin Towers' to Museums
He was inspired to create a series of one-of-a-kind ceramic '9/11 Twin Towers' and to donate them to museums across the country to commemorate 9/11 and to encourage a dialogue with young people about unity through art.
The first permanent exhibit, valued at $65K, was installed to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11 at the Great Explorations Children's Museum located in St. Petersburg, Florida.
They were designed to be easy on the eye of young children, and are colorful, whimsical and stand seven feet tall rotating on a base of steel.
To launch a fundraiser to help the museum raise money for programming, Sean painted a series of original works of art and hung over 100 images around the museum as well as creating '9/11 memorial plaques' for the gift shop.
He is presently working on the conceptualization of the design with Jan Seidler Ramirez, Chief Curator & Director of Collections for the National September 11 Memorial Museum located at ground zero in New York City.
This pair of ceramic '9/11 Twin Towers' will stand nine feet tall and are destined to be a permanent installation of 'Tribute/Response Art' which is at the end of a very moving tour of the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
His art will loom as a visual testament of the need to promote unity through art and education and is being designed to leave visitors with an uplifting final moment on their discovery of this iconic event, forever embedded in the history of The United States of America and indeed the world.
Launches Art Fundraiser
Cognizant of the need to raise funds to include a 9/11 based curriculum to programming at museums, prompted him to paint a series of 'Unity Art'.
Fueled by this cause, he has pledged to paint 3000 original works of art as a memorial to all those who perished on 9/11.
Even though his art is inspired by this tragedy, his paintings are diverse in color and content, raise social awareness and plant the seeds of a global consciousness towards charitable giving and peace.
The Manning Arts
Along with his business partner Laura Manning, he travels between office/studios in Lockport, New York, and in St. Petersburg, Florida were they work from a large space located in the front part of a 31,000 square foot, historic 1926 Seaboard train station which provides full facilities to a thriving art community.
They co-founded The Manning Arts and designed an online gallery of his original paintings, which are available in high quality giclèe reproductions, in various sizes, to help charitable organizations raise funds for worthy causes.
As an entrepreneur with 30 years of sales and marketing experience, Laura Manning manages the back end of the business. She captures the creative process of the artist on film and documents each work of art, and maintains the online art gallery and social media networks.
Laura also co-ordinates scheduling with regard to museums and schools and works with participating 501c3 organizations who register online to participate in The Manning Arts innovative fundraising initiative that has the potential of raising over $400 million for worthy causes.
'It sounds like a lot of money, but when you do the math, and figure that each original is available in a numbered series of 550 fine quality giclée prints, in 3 sizes, it represents 1650 options per original - that's almost 5 million works of art." states Laura Manning.
Any 501c3 organization can register online to participate in this innovative fundraising initiative that has the potential of raising over $400 million for worthy causes.
Participating charities are assigned a unique URL that links them to The Manning Arts online art gallery, which they can upload to their website and share with their supporters.
The success of this fundraiser is based on getting the word out to loyal supporters to click on the link and purchase a work of art for their home, office or as a gift.
Included in every purchase is a 66% charitable contribution from the supporter to the charity that originates the sale, which is instantly deposited to the PayPal account of the participating charity, at point of sale.
The Manning Arts receives the remaining 34% and the fulfillment team reproduces and ships the chosen art directly to the supporter, so all the charity has to do is get the word out. It's as simple as that!
To inquire about your museum receiving a donation of a one-of-a-kind pair of '9/11 Twin Towers' as a permanent exhibit, or to find out how to register your 501c3 organization to participate in this unique fundraiser, please visit:
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In 1985 Richard Sean Manning moved from upstate New York to the gulf coast of Florida and joined Jabil Circuit, who had recently moved to St. Petersburg after obtaining a contract to make add-on circuit boards for IBM.
His work ethic paid off as he worked his way up and into management, and by the age of forty he retired to concentrate on his private investments, artistic endeavors and his philanthropic pursuits.
He divides his time between art studios/offices located in St. Petersburg, Florida as well as at his family winery in Lockport, New York.
When in Florida, he works from a large space located in a 31,000 square foot, historic 1926 seaboard train station, that he was involved in the purchase and the total restoration of.
He is proud to have been a part of this project which provides full facilities to a thriving art community, with studio and gallery space and an impressive selection of kilns, including a wood burning Anagama kiln.
Artistic Endeavors
Manning is a prolific artist who works in a number of mediums, including ink, oil and acrylic, exotic and rare wood, metal and glass. He throws upwards of five tons of clay each year and his art is sought after by private collectors and museums.
He is a self taught artist whose mentors have been amongst an illustrious group of recognized artists such as Jun Kaneko and Don Reitz as well as some of the great masters of ceramics, including the late Rudy Autio, Paul Soldner and Peter Voulkos.
Philanthropic Pursuits
Richard Sean Manning freely gives of his time, and generously supports ceramic programs in many schools to empower students to be active participants in charitable giving by teaching them how to work with clay to ‘Make it Personal, to Make a Difference’.
His latest project is to create a body of work to commemorate 9/11 and was inspired to create a series of ceramic '9/11 Twin Towers' and to donate them to museums across the country to mark each anniversary and to encourage a dialogue with young people about unity through art.
Donates Major Works
His first permanent exhibit, valued at $65K, was installed to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11 at the Great Explorations Children's Museum located in St. Petersburg, Florida.
He is presently working on a nine foot tall work of ceramic art for the 9/11 Memorial Museum located at ground zero in New York City, that is destined to be in their permanent collection of 'Tribute/ Response Art'.
Launches Art Fundraiser
Cognizant of the need to raise funds to include a 9/11 based curriculum to programming at museums, prompted him to paint a series of 'Unity Art'.
Paints for Charity
Fueled by this cause, he has pledged to paint 3000 original works of art as a memorial to all those who perished on 9/11. His paintings are diverse in color and content, and raises social awareness.
He co-founded The Manning Arts as an online gallery of his original paintings, which are offered in high quality giclèe reproductions to raise funds for worthy causes.
Any 501c3 organizations can register online to participate in this creative art fundraiser that has the potential of raising over $400 million for charity by visiting www.themanningarts.org.
Diversified Business Interests
Richard Sean Manning is known as an astute businessman who operates on a handshake. He is diversified in his business interests, but one common thread runs through his holdings. He is 100% committed to a technology driven consumer marketplace.
He holds a 23% share holding in ClickAndBind, a specialized insurance technology and marketing company that helps carriers add or enhance online distribution channels.
This insurance industry, trend setting online company, provides insurance products that allows carriers to conduct business at instantaneous speed to deliver products to agents, MGAs, and consumers alike - linking them instantly together.
They offer to the insurance industry the key to the engine, resulting in a 'hybrid' new profit center for carriers and agencies that cuts overhead and drives revenue with market speed.
He spends one week each month at his Lockport, New York studio located on the grounds of his family run vineyard, Freedom Run Winery.
Seeing wine making as an art form, he and his brothers established this family legacy on 200 acres of fertile land, on the bench of the Niagara Escarpment.
They have won numerous international awards and have had to increase the size of their production and barrels rooms, to accommodate upwards of 3500 visitors on wine trail weekends.
They are proud of the quality of their wine, and have grown from strength to strength in just seven years.
Academic and Honors
He graduated from Starpoint High School in 1980 and went on to trade school with the intention of becoming a machinist, which helped him to excel at Jabil.
Although he is a self taught artist, over the years he has learned technique from Professor's John Balistreri of Bowling Green State University and Matt Long of the University of Mississippi. He also underwent an intensive independent study with Professor Brian Ransom at Eckerd College in St Petersburg, Florida.
Honors
Sean is a supporter of the arts and has been on the board of the Palladium Theater as well as the Mahaffey Theater, where The Manning Arts was launched in February 2010.
He is past president of Lockport Jaycee’s, the Art Center of St Petersburg and Live Arts Peninsula and is proud to have been the recipient of the coveted John Eckert Memorial Award as well as the Starpoint Academic Wall of Fame and Achievement Award for his excellence in his chosen field of art, and his outstanding contribution to humanity.
Sean is a major benefactor, past Vice President and is currently on the board of The First Tee of St Petersburg, where he is an active participant in helping to teach core values to young people to help them to excel in life.