As the summer of 2025 comes to a close, Visit Topeka reflects on the radiant Topekans we’ve encountered along the way. We’ve heard uplifting stories of resilient small-business owners, creative emerging artists and lifelong Topekans. During the 2025 Mulvane Art Fair, we caught up with Cindy Manry — a lifelong Topekan, interior designer, small-business owner of CM Design, alumna of the Kansas State University interior design program, and a featured talent of the Mulvane Art Fair.
On June 7, 2025, Manry and I sat under the shade of her booth tent that warm summer Saturday, clinging to cold, perspiring water bottles in the yard of the Mulvane, surrounded by her textured, impressionist pieces. Manry spoke to us about never being “quite finished” with a painting or her career.
According to the Mulvane Art Museum, “The Mulvane Art Fair is a juried event that features artists from across the country working in a variety of media.” Each year, a panel of judges (known as a jury) from the Mulvane Art Fair accepts applications from artisans and selects up to 90 artists to showcase during this annual two-day event, held on Washburn University’s campus. Artists must present fine art and original works to the jury. Cash prizes for best in show are awarded, with values of up to $2,000.
The jury requires photographs of a booth layout for the fair, with prices of artworks for sale clearly listed. Though Manry, 70, has painted and lived in Kansas or Topeka for most of her life, 2025 was her first year participating in the Mulvane Art Fair. A mother and wife, Manry raised her children and works as an interior designer in Topeka.
Her favorite thing about Topeka? “You can get anywhere in town in 10 minutes. My daughter lives in Denver and, well, you have to plan out your day.” With all the mileage she has accumulated toting a car full of swatches, samples and industrial wares over the years, easy transportation is a huge plus for a commercial interior designer.
Manry described her depth of involvement throughout the interior design process, considering every detail of a project from selecting craftsmen to lay flooring to conceptualizing custom-made furniture for a space. While she had not painted works for others to see since switching from an art major to interior design at Kansas State, she recalled that just before 2019, toward the end of an interior design project, she found inspiration for an original painting to pull together a space she’d been working on.
This began a trend: Paintings would emerge as products of her focus, establishing a connective thread between the shapes and elements of a space and a custom painting. “A lot of times people want to see just enough of the room,” Manry said, “that adding a little more art will anchor it all together in a way that makes sense.”
How often did her clients keep the painting with the space? “Always.”
She takes inspiration from impressionists such as Henri Matisse and primarily uses tissue paper and oils. Her Midwestern natural landscapes create organic, grand atmospheres in wildflower hues and have been featured in the Friday Art Walks hosted by NOTO Arts Center.
This hidden talent for painting was unbeknown to Manry’s husband and daughters, who attended the Mulvane Art Fair that day in support of Manry. Overhearing our interview with her, Manry’s loving daughters and husband gathered around to recall happy and romantic memories of discovering this talent. While some of the details of those stories Manry preferred to keep within the family, it was obvious they were proud of her work as they described her evolution as an artist. I sat with a quiet smile as her family recalled stories of her artistry coming to life, from watching her take to the paintbrush with inspiration in the late hours of the night to seeing her works alongside those of talents from all over the world at the Mulvane that weekend.
Manry knows she’s “just about” ready to retire but says her people “won’t let her.” According to her, stopping only requires saying no. In her professional life, as with her artistic works, Manry finds there is always something that draws her back into a painting, explaining that she believes no painting she’s ever done is completely finished.
Today, Manry has many original paintings for sale — no purchase of interior design work required. When asked what excites her most about selling art pieces alone, she answered, “I get excited when I find out a piece of art has been sold.”
Cindy Manry is sticking around, and you can find her works for sale by visiting cm-design.org. We look forward to seeing what more Manry has in store for us. Just like Manry’s art pieces belong in their space, Manry belongs in Topeka. And we like her that way — perfectly unfinished.
It’s Topekans like Cindy Manry who inspire us to create, to live and to free ourselves in technicolor. Who is next? Will it be you who inspires us? Come find us in Topeka, or use the hashtag #VisitTopeka to share your summer adventure stories. Check out the upcoming Aaron Douglas Art Fair this September 27 and other artist showcases produced by Arts Connect Topeka, coming to Topeka this year!
