Saturday, May 12, 2012

The Graduate

Yesterday I graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine arts along with the rest of my DPC friends, it was a great day full of families and friends and the culmination of 5 years worth of school, hard work, lots of painting, and memories I'll cherish the rest of my life.
yesterday was also the public opening of the 111th Annual Student Exhibition and the place was jam packed with familes, friends, the media and public. the night before was the annual Woman's Board preview party where the high rollers pay a premium to come in and get a chance to purchase the art and see the show before the public opening. sales were great, I sold several pieces and got a commission and my fellow DPC members all did great with sales as well.
Some perspective buyers checking out my wall.
You also get to see and meet a lot of great friends and fellow artists like Diane Feissel, Angela Cunningham (Cambrideg Street studios)and Rachel Constantine.
Yours truly all gussied up in front of my wall.
Dinner with Will, Alina and Brie and her family.
Lunch with all of our families and friends right before graduation was to start.
The graduate walk up into the Historic landmark Building.
President Bingham presenting an honorary degree to artist and graduation speaker Audrey Flack.
The DPC all happy to be done!
It was a great time and the culmination of a lot of hard work over the years and the last week especially with getting everything up on our walls, the preview night and then graduation. We all celebrated at the end at the best Vietnamese restaurant in the world, Little Saigon! Ewardd, his wife Nancy and his daughters are like family to me and I couldn't think of a better place to end out great day with our families and friends. Congrats to all the graduates of the class of 2012!

5 comments:

LUD! said...

A heartfelt congratulations, Mike!
I know this took a lot of hard work and sleepless nights... but that degree makes it all worth it!

Lud

William R. Moore said...

Mike,
Congratulations,well done. Looking forward to seeing your journey in the Graduate program.

Steve Buccellato said...

Congratulations, Mike! As you know, I'm a big fan of your work; fine art as well as illustration work. Your decision to go back to school and study painting is HUGELY inspirational and I wish you the best of luck pursuing your dream. --SB

Mike Manley said...

Thanks guys, I appreciate it!

Muvs32 said...

I wanted to know if the decision to go to school for painting was right for "you" or do you believe that this is how one becomes a proficient painter? I congratulate you none the less.