"Day Trip", ink, 24"x18"

Ivy Manska is an artist and printmaker currently based in Knoxville, Tennessee. She grew up in Southeast Michigan where she attended the College for Creative Studies. There, she studied illustration and printmaking until obtaining her BFA in 2020. In 2023, she was a creative intern at the Blue Heron Headwaters Conservancy, where she created interpretive signs and educational pamphlets on invasive plant control. Alongside her art practice, she loves rock-climbing, birdwatching, and petting her cat, Charlie. 

Artist Statement

Through my narratives, I explore the emotional connections humans have to each other, animals, and our ecosystems. I take inspiration from the natural world to examine my personal relationships and relationship with myself. Some of my work contemplates themes of interconnectedness and mortality, while some grapples with more mundane daily struggles of pain or frustration, but they are almost always coated with a layer of anxiety or yearning. I expanded my practice into printmaking for the community spaces, and the support for artwork accessibility.