Isabel Mann Prefers to Work with Difficult Materials

New Anderson Artists Guild member Isabel Mann is from Cd Acuña Coahuila, Mexico, but marriage to an American led to spending her adult life traveling the U.S. as part of an Air Force family. Over 28 years, they moved 13 times. “When you’re young, you really like it; it’s exciting,” she said. “But it’s really hard at the end.”

Their final assignment brought them to Anderson, where they settled about 10 years ago.

For as long as she can remember, Mann loved to draw. “As a child, all I wanted to do is draw,” she said. “It was not a hobby. That is what I am, an artist.”

She does a lot of portraiture, using multiple media, including ink, watercolors, pastels, graphite, charcoal, and oils. She is particularly drawn to anatomy and muscles. In addition, she has branched out into landscapes and sacred art. A big influence is the work of Edgar Degas, whose art she first encountered in a book about ballet. “The soft and heavy strokes of line work of the charcoal and the warm and cool colors of pastels really stamped on me forever,” she said.

She likes to work with different—and difficult—materials like ink wash, sumi rice paper, and silverpoint. “It brings a challenge to me but at the same time it takes away the fear of failure,” she said.

She joined the Anderson Artists Guild with a desire to engage with a community of artists and to be less isolated.