Marcie Manion Ziv was born in Rhode Island and grew up in Massachusetts. Living in eastern Massachusetts’s rural areas, Marcie developed a strong sense and love of nature. As a young girl, pictures showing Marcie with smiles all have at least one animal in them. In pictures with no animals, the smile is missing. Her early and somewhat persistent childhood dream was to be a veterinarian and care for sick, exotic animals.

After graduating from Gloucester High School Marcie moved into the arena of being an art object herself. For about three years, she worked as a model in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California. At some point Marcie decided that continuing her education was more important to her future than modeling and entered college. She graduated from Montserrat College of Art in 1986 and began a career in art.

As a wall cover designer in Pennsylvania, Marcie did not find the right outlet for the art within. Supporting herself by other means, she began developing her own style of artistic expression. In 1988, the Miami area became her chosen home. Here she opened a manufacturing business of custom designed T-shirts for the wholesale clothing trade. By 1991, Marcie was looking for a more universal way to bring her art to life. It was then that she became interested in the art of paper mache – a means of making large sculptures without great cost. By using modern materials the technique produced very durable objects. Perfecting her technique on smaller creatures, Marcie’s animals grew larger and larger until in 1994 she reached cow size! Along with this evolution in size came her use of asymmetrical design patterns on sculptures’ surfaces.

Marcie Manion and Jerome Ziv Jr. married in 1993. Their two sons, J.J. and A.J., are often in the gallery – drawing and testing larger animal’s rideability – sometimes against mother’s advice. When the gallery is open on special evenings, husband Jay helps with refreshments and sometimes the children play host to visitors until they tire.