Eric Mannella is an award-winning Canadian artist. He has an MFA cum laude from the Graduate School of Figurative Art, at the New York Academy of Art in New York City, and a BFA from York University in Toronto, Ontario.  While completing his MFA, he was offered an administrative position at the New York Academy. Upon completion of his degree he was awarded an assistant teaching position under founding faculty member Edward Schmidt. Mr. Mannella has been invited to lecture on his work at Concordia Univeristy, SUNY New Paltz, and the New York Academy of Art.

Mr. Mannella is the recipient of a Forbes Foundation Travel Grant, the Prince of Wales Scholarship from the Prince of Wales Foundation, and a merit scholarship from the New York Academy. His work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States, and France, including a special exhibition at Chateau Balleroy, where his work was viewed by HRH Prince Charles, Christopher Forbes, and prominent French and English diplomats. He was interviewed for L'Art du Nu, a documentary film exploring the artistic and personal relationships of life models and the artists who work with them, released in 2006.  His work is found in many private and corporate collections.

 Mr. Mannella has studied extensively with the world's leading figurative artists, including Steven Assael, Claude Breeze, Harvey Citron, Jack Dale, Jon DeMartin, Vincent Desiderio, Dan Hughes, John Jacobsmeyer, Deane Keller, Hendrik Lenis, Leonid Lerman, Frank Porcu, and Edward Schmidt. He attended a special anatomical disection laboratory at Yale University. He is related to Sir William Orpen, a noteable painter of Irish descent, active in the early 20th century.