Jan Manniko: The Last Place on Earth

Jan (Johnson) Manniko spent her life drawing and painting the people and places that define the Copper Country. This exhibition features nearly forty artworks from throughout Manniko’s career. Intricate, but steady-handed pen and ink drawings of mine buildings, exuberant plein air landscapes, and emotional depictions of people provide a tender decades-long look into the culture of the Copper Country.

Jan Manniko was born in Chicago in 1933. Manniko demonstrated a passion for art beginning in her childhood. She studied at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and The Art Institute of Chicago before returning to the Copper Country in the early 1960s. Until her passing in 2013, Jan Manniko lived and worked in Allouez, Michigan, alongside her husband Tom Manniko, a skilled woodcarver. They sold their wares alongside an eclectic array of antiques and found bottles in the iconic red building emblazoned with “The Last Place on Earth.”