CCB MEDIA PHOTO
State Representative Brian Mannal with his mother, Karen, explain prices of his artwork at a fundraiser and art opening last night at Cape Cod Beer.
HYANNIS – Art was on display and beer was on tap at a local state rep’s unusual fundraiser last night.
The art was the work of Representative Brian Mannal (D-Centerville), who said he has enjoyed making art since he was a child.
But last night was the first time his artwork has been on display.
“I’ve never shown my work publicly before. Mostly, we have paintings in our house that sort of rotate through the house,” he said.
Mannal said he has about 80 works of art and chose 35 to display at his first-ever art show.
For Mannal, making art is a way of decompressing from his job as a legislator and he said he tries to take time for his artwork two or three nights a week.
“For an hour or two, I’ll try and disconnect from television or my computer and either sketch or draw or paint,” he said.
Mannal also uses his iPad to make art. He pointed to one of his paintings, an image of a ferry boat and said he sketched an image and loaded it onto his iPad. Using his computer, he manipulated and added to the image. He then printed the image out onto canvas so it appears to be a painting.
Beth Marcus, who owns Cape Cod Beer with her husband Todd, said the two are not political and do not normally host political fundraisers, but she said, considering Mannal’s event was an art show, they decided to allow Mannal to host the event.
Among the three dozen guests was the Reverend John Terry of the Federated Church of Hyannis. Terry’s wife, Elise, picked out a work to purchase.
“I really like this. One of the unfortunate things politicians have to do today is to be constantly raising huge sums of money. I think this is a wonderful way to do it. It’s very gracious. Brian does very well with art and I just handed my wife a check to buy one of his pictures,” he said.
In a speech to those gathered, Mannal said he was giving “the least political speech at a fundraiser I think I’ve ever given and will give.”
He described the collection as “sort of a random assortment of different works, originals, pen and pencil drawings, as well as pastel and acrylic paintings, there are prints and also prints on canvas.”
He offered to do special commissions for those who like the style of the art work and want Mannal to paint a requested image “and want to really donate a lot of money to my campaign.”
Speak Your Mind