Her art is most inspired by the places she comes across, always wanting to capture the feeling and memory a place gives her through her watercolor paintings or photography.

As an art educator, Allie has spent the past four years as an elementary art teacher in a northern New Jersey school district and as an instructor during the summer at the Visual Art Center of New Jersey helping her students create their own creative toolboxes for self expression through art. She is passionate about teaching her students to be open minded and caring, all while having some fun experimenting with art.

One summer evening, Allie was having a watercolor evening on the beach with a friend. When her friend said she hadn’t used watercolors since she was in school and how relaxing it made her, this started a spark in Allie to find ways to help adults incorporate creative experiences for themselves. Art for her was always about self care. And that was how the seeds were planted for Manalili Studio to come to fruition.