This is the personal/professional page for Hawaii artist Chris Manaseri.

Chris is a part-time painter (and sculptor) who is in the process of compiling his collection of works for display and sale.  This page is a means by which others can monitor the gallery as it develops.   Chris is a member of the Plein Air Painters of Hawaii, and additional information can be found at the PAPOH site at http://papoh.com/artist-members/userprofile/Chris%20Manaseri.html?tab=getProfileGalleryTab.  He is also a member of the Windward Artists Guild, the Hawaii Watercolor Society and the Association of Hawaii Artists.

The image above is painted from a panorama photo taken from the lanai on our Big Island home in Pahoa at sunrise.   The 24x 60 original hangs in our Mililani living room to remind us of the beauty and the breezes on the Puna Coast.

Queen Liliokalani Protestant Church in Haleiwa en plein air.

 About Chris

Chris Manaseri spent the bulk of his life in upstate New York, where he was born, went to school and worked for 34 years in public education as a teacher, coach, counselor and public school and district administrator.  Inheriting his father’s natural talent for drawing, he was encouraged at a young age to pursue his interest in art.   He took the Famous Artists School correspondence program as a teen, and studied under Lenore Dillon in high school.   His first piece accepted for exhibition regionally was a wire sculpture shown at the Munson-Proctor-Williams Institute in Utica, New York, and he won a gold medal in the national Scholastic Art Competition for an oil painting, “Conley’s Barn,” which was displayed at the Everson Museum in Syracuse.   He also showed regularly in the Central Adirondack Art Show in Old Forge New York for several summers, receiving Masters’ awards twice.    He won first prize for his watercolor “Horse Fork Rope Pulley” at a juried show at the Women’s Center in Ithaca, New York.

Chris pursued a degree in English and took some art and photography classes while at SUNY Geneseo, before becoming a high school English teacher.   He studied at the University of Nottingham in England for an undergraduate year, where his contemporary art history elective saw him visit the Tate and other London museums regularly.  During his formative years he became an aficionado of Andrew Wyeth, the Wyeth family and the Brandywine School.  One of his personal highlights was meeting Mr. Wyeth and his famous model Helga during a visit to Maine for a Wyeth opening at the Farnsworth Museum.  He and his wife Holly have made pilgrimages to Chadds Ford and Cushing Maine several times.

Raising children and tending to a demanding career kept him from art for a number of years, but as he aged, he took occasional courses to refresh his skill set, including a metal sculpting class at the Ithaca BOCES and an egg tempera class from Bunnie Goldstein in adult education at Brighton, where he was then superintendent.  Retiring from public education at 55, he was an adjunct at SUNY Brockport and used his tuition waiver to afford a painting class offered by Chris Carson.  Relocating to Hawaii in 2009, he took Mark Brown’s Plein Air class offered through Outreach College and became hooked once again.   He has since also taken Jackie Lau’s lost wax casting class at Manoa as well.

Beginning in earnest in 2010, Chris has painted regularly on weekends, spending a few hours most Sundays on a beach or along a roadside, hala hat atop his balding pate and French easel in front of him, capturing some aspect of his new home.  He is a new member of the Plein Air Painters of Hawaii, and looks forward to a second retirement in the near future, one that will enable him to paint full-time.

Chris is currently employed as the Dean of Student Services at Leeward Community College on O`ahu.