Brenda Manheim painted "Lego My World" as a gift for her grandson Cameron, who loved LEGOs. The painting features Cameron amid a background of colorful LEGO pieces to commemorate his interest in them at age 13. Manheim was drawn to paint portraits and tell stories through her work. She has a BFA in art education and taught art for many years before retiring in 2012. Her style has evolved from realistic paintings to more expressive works inspired by her church services.

1. Brenda Manheim
“Lego My World”

2. Location

3. On Location

4. Selection Process

The reason that I chose this piece of art is
because I could tell that there was a story
behind the painting. When I was talking to the
director at the Council For the Arts, she told me
that the painting was of Brenda's grandson, and
I knew that there had to be a reason for her
painting it. Also, I saw two of Brenda's other
paintings while I was at the Council For the Arts,
and I truly enjoyed her style of painting and the
amount of detail that was put into each painting.
I enjoyed the fact that there were so many
intense colors within all of her paintings. From
there I knew that I had to learn more about her
and her paintings.

5. An expansion of Brenda
Manheim's Paintings
"New Generations"-18 x 24,mixed
media,acrylic, marker
"False Prophets of My Life"-mixed
media, 12 x 12,acrylic, fabric

6. Words From The Artist
“Cameron was 13 years old when this painting was
started. I thought I would do something special for him
because of his age and that would leave him an
heirloom and a gift that would be extraordinary from a
Mema.”

7. History (Brief Biography of
Subject)
Cameron was the only child for Brenda's son, but he does
have two older half siblings.Cameron was born on August
9, 1999 in Wake County, North Carolina. Even though he
was born weighing six pounds he had to where preemie
clothes but as he continued to grow he remained
underweight. When Cameron was a toddler he would
constantly talk but no one could ever understand what he
was saying. He was diagnosed with dysproxia when he
was three years old. Cameron started school in 2004,
and he was rediagonosed with high functioning autism
when he was in first grade. He has trouble in school in
the beginning but he has improved quite a bit. Because of
the autism, Cameron's focus in life has been his LEGOs,
he has thousands of them. At one point he slept with all
of them on his bed. So because ofh is love for LEGOS,
the painting has become a tribute to this part in
Cameron's life.

8. Artist Biography
Brenda Manhiem was born October 30, 1946 and
was part of the baby boomer generation after the
end of World War 2. She was born in Wilson
County, North Carolina and was raised in Wayne
County, in Eureka. Brenda was always a creative
person. Growing up she would make her own
doll clothes out of paper. Once she got old
enough to sew, she learned how to use a sewing
machine. Brenda was always interested in
drawing, however growing up and in school, they
did not offer any type of art programs. The art
that was incooperated into her learning was
included into other areas of study.

9. Artist Biography
In the 1980's Brenda owned her own shop.
There was not an actual name for the
“business” nor did she make any actual
money. She taught fabric painting classes,
acrylic painting classes, and classes on
making jewelry such as paper earrings. She
also did classes at women groups and at her
church. It was located in Duplin County.
Brenda has a BFA in art education and
worked in both Duplin and Lenior County
school districts. She first teaching job was a
partial and was at Lenior in 1997.

10. Artist Biography
She then worked in Duplin county, from which she
retired in 2012. She taught at North Duplin junior
and senior high school. She taught one high
school art class per semester but had multiple
classes for seventh and eighth graders. Her
current inspriations for her paintings are from
services done at her church. Right now she is
focusing on worship art, which is where she will
sit in the back pew on Saturday nights while
listening to the service she sketches ideas and
paints. Sometimes she will get a random idea,
and where she happens to be she will sketch out
her idea, so she can expand on it later. While
she was in college she was focused on more
realistic paintings. With her paintings now she

11. An extension of Brenda
Manheim's Paintings
Elephant Ears At The
Marriott
Who Says You Can't Pu
a Pig in Your Living
Room

12. Formal Analysis
“Lego My World” has both two and three
demensional aspects of work. The way
the object lay on the canvas determine
wheather they are two or three
demensional. The painting itself it both
naturalistic and abstract. With Brenda's
grandon being the featuring piece of the
painting, it makes it naturalitic. But all of
the different shapes in the background
make it abstract. The feelings that I
percieve out the painting are excitement
due to all of the bright colors on the

13. Compare and
Contrast
“Lego My World” and “Numbers in Color” are
both canvas paintings, they are both very
different.”Numbers in Color” is a very
large canvas painting of numbers in a vast
number of colors. However, it is very hard
to determine what colors are actually
within the painting. While in “Lego My
World” you can clearly tell what are the
main colors within the painting. “Numbers
In Color” in more of an abstract painting,
and it is all two demensional, while “Lego
My World” is both two and three

14. Compare and Contrast
Lego My World
~Brenda Manheim
Number In Colors
~Jasper Johns
(page 69)