About Anya McManis

Award winning artist, Anya McManis, has spent the past 25 years working in visual media of some sort, including commercial graphic design and web design. This work deepened her understanding of composition, layout and color and inspired her to delve into the world of fine art.

McManis’s work has been shown in numerous professional galleries, including at the Artwork Network Gallery and Niza Knoll Gallery in Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe. She had seven solo shows at the University of Denver from 2011-2019 and participated in numerous group shows, among others at the Aurora Municipal Center, in Aurora CO, the Tri-Lake Center for the Arts in Palmer Lake, CO, the R Gallery in Boulder, CO, the WATER FOR LIFE International Art Exhibition at the Niagara Falls History Museum in Canada, and the Florence Biennale in Florence, Italy.

From 2012 to 2013, McManis ran her own gallery and studio in Olde Town Arvada, CO. Currently, she works out of her studio in Denver and shows her art at Fine Art Festivals throughout Colorado.

In addition to painting, McManis also runs her creative agency, AMCS Marketing.

Like poetry that yields different interpretations upon repeated readings, my paintings contain multiple entry points and pathways for the viewer’s eye and imagination to traverse. I seek to create art that resonates with the complexity of the human experience — simultaneously revealing and mysterious, structured and spontaneous, personal and universal.

Through the interplay of ink, watercolor, and acrylics, I create abstract compositions that emerge from moments of spontaneity and deep introspection. My process begins with an intuitive mark or gesture that sets the work in motion — perhaps a bold sweep of ink or a delicate bloom of ink that speaks to my emotional state in that moment. Layer by layer, I build depth through transparent washes of color and varied textures, allowing earlier elements to peek through or fade into subtle whispers beneath the surface. Each layer represents both an artistic decision and a response to what came before, creating a rich record of the painting’s evolution.

Anya McManis

Denver, CO

Statement