A native of Florida, Manus studied first at Rollins College in Winter Park before enrolling in the Art Institute of Boston, which she graduated in 1973. It was there that she threw herself into sculpture. Under the tutelage of her professor Michael Phillips, she explored a variety of media, including cardboard, wood, and steel. Her early works were rough and raw, bolted together and exploiting the rusting surface of steel. She turned to welding when the bolted wood started to warp and distort. She credits Phillips with teaching her how to weld, the process that has been her working mode ever since.

Already in her student years Manus was fascinated with the works of the Russian Constructivists. A stint in New York City introduced her to other artists who shared this interest, among them Joel Shapiro and Mark di Suvero. They both were experimenting with geometric forms and exploring the ways that abstract geometric structures could project a sense of movement and balance and alter the space around them. These were issues that were also preoccupying Manus as she shaped corten steel plates into sculptures that already exhibited her ability to create paradoxical structures that changed from every perspective.

In 1982 Manus moved back to Florida where she switched to aluminum, a medium more practical in terms of weight and flexibility and more receptive to the creation of smooth painted surfaces. In the years since she has built a formidable career, working as a public artist, creating private commissions and even designing furniture that carries her ideas into the functional arena. Her work has been shown throughout the United States and all over the world, from Monte Carlo and Florence to Havana and Naples.

In 1996 the Georgia Museum of Art celebrated its opening and the commencement of the 1996 Olympic Games with an exhibition of Manus's art. For the 2022 show, she brings five sculptures to the museum's grounds. Set in the grass or placed on the concrete plaza, these works reframe their surrounds and suggest portals to other realities, And they invite interaction.

Unlike works ensconced in a gallery setting, these sculptures encourage viewers to walk around, under and through them.

Artist Statement

My idea of public art—and the manifestation of that idea in the creation of my large sculptures—is simply grounded: it says that art can be brought into the space of daily life; that art can and should go where people are, instead of people having to go where the art is—inside buildings completely dedicated to the storage and/or showing of art. My idea of public art means the shifting of contexts by shifting the works of art.

I make large sculptures of painted or brushed welded aluminum that are both geometric and suggestively figurative simultaneously. As a visual artist, I am always aware that public landscapes are themselves an amalgam of geometric shapes (the buildings, signposts, benches) and figurative shapes (the humans in and moving through the landscape).

Many of my works are sited on the lawns, stone terraces, and walkways of corporate or public landscapes. People come and go by them and around them each day. The sculptures may remain still, but unlike the museum environment, people do not have to be static or still to view and consider my sculpture. It is this dialogue between human beings, their ordinary landscapes, and my own large work that has much meaning for my practice as a visual artist.