Shirley Manfredi

O'Hanlon Center for the Arts

​616 Throckmorton Avenue

Mill Valley, CA

Departure (From the Ole Cottonfields of Texas),was inspired from photographs of my mother's family that resided in Morgan, Texas. When my grandmother, Alice Ince Hale, was a young girl, she picked cotton to help the family monetarily. For the composition, I placed my Mother's parents and brother in a field surrounded by cotton with a backdrop of mountains in Texas. They moved from Texas to Anderson, California in 1939 when my mother was 2 years old. Through this painting, I hoped to portray their story of hard times during the Great Depression and migrating to California with hopes of a better way of life,

​​monca

​Don’t Kill the Messenger

​​​  August 29 - October 12, 2025

​900 Esplanades, Chico, CA

Weathering the Forecast

The idea for this painting started from a photograph I had taken of 3 women at a parade dressed in 30's attire. I decided to paint the women in a Southern scenery. I had many photographs to choose the background from, that I had taken on travels to Southern States. I was thinking of Trinity for the title but as the painting evolved I decided to omit 2 figures. The painting was visually stronger with the one figure on its own. 

I decided to include Magnolia flowers for it's symbolism:

• Purity & Nobility - Feminine energy and is associated with grace and beauty.
  
• Perseverance & Determination
  
• Love of Nature
  

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Weathering the Forecast reflects my concerns with today's politics in the United States on women's rights and the fueling of racism and racial discrimination.