Headstash

ART COLLECTIVE: Morgan Manley – Live Painter

Name: Morgan Manley

Trade: Live painting

Highlights: Painted at Electric Forest and Sonic Bloom and with Papadosio and Random Rab

Visual creativity and drawing always came very naturally to Morgan Manley throughout her childhood. Like so many others, she was never a fan of high school, spending most of her time during that period creating art. When it came time to graduate and move on, she decided to get an education in something she really loved to do.

Morgan attended Colorado State University in 2006 studying art history, painting and philosophy. While she was at CSU, Manley was turned on to the live music and festival scenes. She began to be heavily influenced by the culture and art that is ubiquitous in the scene. Her art, in turn, began to take on the values of the culture.

“That’s kind of why I’m doing the art I’m doing now,” she said, “spreading the idea of unity and a collective consciousness.”

Manley’s integration of cultural values is partly seen in her incorporation of sacred geometrical archetypes. She was introduced to sacred geometry by fellow live painter, Krystaleyez. Manley had gotten a tapestry of the flower of life and was driven to learn more about the pattern.

“I started to learn what it was and studied it,” Manley said. “Especially the flower of life because it really resonates on so many levels with everyone and everything.”

Manley’s style developed into a combination of physical realities and spiritual ideas. She often blends organic landscapes with sacred geometry, forming what she has accurately dubbed “geometriscapes.”

Morgan got her first opportunity to share her style with an audience in 2008 when a friend in the Acidophiles asked her to paint live. Painters are often placed in the crowd, however she was on stage, front and center.

“It was kind of intimidating at first,” Manley said. “But once I got into it after the first 10 minutes, I got a ton done and the vibe was great.”

Manley says she really prefers to paint live as opposed to in her studio.

“I think they’re both good for different reasons,” she explained. “But I do love live painting because I feel like with all that energy there, it’s so much easier to just transform things and get things done. There’s so many more influences that will come through you when you’re painting in a crowd of people and music and energy like that.”

Manley is also grateful to live painting for allowing her the opportunity to connect with so many other visionary artists. Since her first live painting, Morgan has painted at Sonic Bloom, Envision, Lightning in a Bottle and Electric Forrest. She also loves to paint with Tipper, Papadosio, Random Rab and Bluetech.

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Check out Morgan Manley's artwork on her Facebook.

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