An artist's return to crayons

In-progress handiwork lies on the ground of a garage turned art studio. The floor is marked with splatters of color from previous projects, some of which are leaning up against the wall waiting to go to their new homes. 

Wax stains cover Lexington artist Brian Connors Manke’s shorts and shirt, as he stands in front of shelves filled with his favorite medium and ultimate creative tool: crayons.

Brian Connors Manke holds his favorite art medium on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at the University of Kentucky School of Art & Visual Studies in Lexington, Ky. Photo by Holly Long.

Connors Manke creates art on canvases by melting, drawing and painting with crayons. With artwork like “Time is an Irrelevant Elephant That’s Benevolent,” Connors Manke mixes crayons with acrylic and even layers a vinyl record to create a unique, abstract and colorful piece. 

This rhyming-named piece is just one of many you can find with Connors Manke’s signature medium. But despite making art for over 20 years, he does not call himself an artist. 

“I don’t think I would define myself in the same way as big dealers and artists,” Connors Manke said. “I’m a creative person, right? But sometimes words can be tricky. Some people have an attachment to the word ‘artist’ that sometimes has a certain weight to it.”

He never believed he fit into the definition of a traditional artist. So like Connors Manke has done with his crayons on a canvas, he has melted together a definition for himself.

“I am an amateur in most everything I do. Granted, when I shipped a piece of art last week to Texas, it gets harder to say ‘Oh, well I am just an amateur, right?’ I am an amateur with professional moments perhaps,” Connors Manke said. “I like to be a walking contradiction.”

"Walking contradiction” doesn’t just apply to his title. It also applies to the way he approaches creating his art by reaching for the nostalgic “discarded” tools of his past. 

“I really love crayons as a medium, I always have. I love the idea that the first things we learned to use, mostly in kindergarten or as pre-K kids, was a box of crayons,” Connors Manke said. “Crayons eventually became this tool that we relied on and were expected to use. But then, all of a sudden, we are just supposed to be done with them, right? We are supposed to move on to colored pencils or magic markers and leave the crayons in the dust. Why do we have to stop using them?” 

Photo by Holly Long.

That question was modeled after Connors Manke’s creative life trajectory. After his introduction to crayons as a kid, Connors Manke didn’t have many supported opportunities to continue exploring his creative side. Not with crayons, and eventually, not even with colored pencils and markers. 

He took his last art class in elementary school, and moved on to things like playing instruments and pursuing photography instead. It wasn’t until Connors Manke found an escape in coloring that those original tools made a reappearance in his day to day life. 

“It’s soothing, it just takes me to a happy place,” Connors Manke said. 

Connors Manke began sharing that happy place with the world through his custom cards, a time when his “crayon life was still bubbling under the surface.” 

“I would make my own greeting cards or funny cards. It’s so impersonal to have a card that somebody else made that says ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Holidays’ or whatever. I like that the cards could just be from me, saying exactly what I wanted to say or do or feel,” Connors Manke said.

Today, Connors Manke’s art goes far beyond the messages he wrote in his wishes and holiday greetings. 

Photo by Holly Long.

“I can spread some light through personal emotion or something I’ve experienced and have been wanting to share, or even just something larger that's going on in the world,” Connors Manke said. “And because a lot of my art can be really abstract, you might not be able to exactly see it, but it can be very cathartic.” 

Connors Manke said freedom came to mind when he thought about expressing himself through his crayon art.

“A return to crayons made me feel creative and free even when doing the smallest things. You get to choose what color you want to make the elephant, right? It can be pink, or it can be purple, or the tree can be silver if you want it to be,” Connors Manke said. “As you get older, you go into adulthood more and get more responsibility. Those freedoms are getting squeezed, so you reach for things that you found freedom in.” 

Artistic freedom isn’t the only way that art has liberated Connors Manke. It has also freed him from the weight of other people's opinions. 

“I’m sure there were people out there who looked at it initially and were like, that's kind of dumb or weird or whatever. And they can still think that, that's fine,” Connors Manke said. 

Photo by Holly Long.

By focusing on what feels right, Connors Manke has embraced an innovative approach to creating.

“Just do anything you want. That way you can do the things you like the most and are true to,” Connors Manke said. “People will eventually catch up to you and see it.”