Although she didn’t take her first art course until 1979, Shirley participated in the first annual Rideau Valley Art Festival in 1982, when she won her first award. She remembers it as a very validating and encouraging experience in her artistic progression. The following years she took numerous prizes at the Festival, and in 1996 she did a “clean sweep”, capturing “Best of Show”, two First Places, and the “People’s Choice Award”. She is looking forward to participating in the 2007 Rideau Valley Art Festival this August 24-26. Over the past few years Shirley has been invited to be a juror and an art critic for several art associations.

Becoming an artist full time in 1999, she and her husband, Michael Clement moved into a non-winterized shack of a cottage in Westport, an area her ancestors first settled as Loyalists in the 1790’s. “The cottage was so leaky that when the wind blew, it would lift the carpets a foot off the floor.” In 2003 they completed building the lovely wind-proof home that is now also Shirley’s gallery, studio and classroom.

The India Connection

Mancino was inspired to paint while traveling after seeing works done by Merrickville artist Pieter Doef based on his travels (Doef also is participating in the 2007 Rideau Valley Art Festival). She made three trips to Asia on her own before convincing Michael to come along for the ride. And there have been some pretty exciting rides. The 32-hour train rides in India provided a lot of opportunity to paint. They must have been a bit trying for Michael, who is normally at the controls piloting Shirley to Ontario arts events in his Piper Dakota.

On the Pakistan/India border in 2001, Shirley began work on a small figurative painting (her standard travel format is 9 × 12 inches) to capitalize on a three-hour delay at the train station. Two small boys came to watch her paint, and soon parents and other relatives joined in. Before long, Shirley and Michael were invited to a family wedding, only 24 hours away. Later, they found out that the delay resulted when a train down the line was firebombed, killing 62 Hindus on their way to rebuild a Hindu temple. In the ensuing sectarian riots between Hindus and Muslims, eight hundred were killed and over one million Muslims were forced to flee their homes. When they reached their next destination, Udaipur in the next state, Shirley and her husband were under strict lockdown and curfew for over a week.

Shirley travels light as a backpacker on a budget, but she takes her art seriously. Hardworking elegant women and the elderly are among the recurrent themes that capture her artistic imagination. At home in her ideal gallery/studio setting on the edge of Sand Lake, she broadens her repertoire to include large canvases, acrylics, mixed media, and continual creative experimentation. This adventurous senior citizen doesn’t stick to the beaten path. Even in her figurative pieces, her goal is to always leave something to the imagination.

One of her favourite approaches is to start with an abstract underpainting, and add a figurative element, creating an ethereal, almost mystical effect. Sometimes, when an abstract is particularly successful, she leaves it intact. Like many accomplished artists, Shirley believes that a good abstract is the ultimate success. “When I paint abstracts, my soul sings and my spirit soars!”

She especially enjoys creating mixed media abstracts. Here Shirley lets her adventurous imagination run amok, seeking out “found” objects in dumps, hardware stores, even the kitchen sink. She invents techniques and uses them on walls as well as on canvases. I was intrigued by the wall treatments in her house, every room of which is adorned with Shirley’s art. When she discovers a new method of creating a wonderfully textured underpainting, using crumpled plastic wrap, or newsprint, or polyfilla or sponges or…, she transfers the result to the next wall that needs refurbishing.

Those who Can, Teach

With many years of experience in staff and management development for the Ontario Government in Toronto and Kingston, and as an independent consultant providing executive training, it was a natural progression for Shirley to become an art instructor. The names of her courses are apt: “Magical Watercolour — Endless Possibilities” (June 16-17), “Fluid Acrylics: Experimental Extravaganza” (Aug. 11-12), “People-scapes and Landscapes with Panache” (Sept. 15-16) and “Experimental Extravaganza: Collage”.

Mancino loves to dance, read, paint, teach, travel, observe life and live life fully. In her classes she stresses experimentation, looseness and freedom. “There are no mistakes; you can rework anything!” Her enthusiasm is infectious — one student from Thailand extended her stay in Canada by several weeks in order to attend one of her workshops.

To see Shirley’s dramatic, colourful paintings, drop in this month at the Tay River Gallery, 28 Wilson St. W., Perth or Studio 737 Art Gallery in Tweed. Click here to see some of her paintings online. Be sure to join in the fun at Perth Art on a Lawn, July 14-15, and don’t miss the 26th annual Rideau Valley Art Festival, August 24-26, where Shirley’s works, and those of approximately sixty other artists, will be on display.