Born in Santa Monica California, Athena Mantle lived in Southern California until the age of 8 when her mother decided it was time for a change.  She spent the next ten years on the Gulf Coast of Florida growing up.  Always an independent spirit, Athena left home at 18 to go back to her native land and has never looked back.

Athena’s artistic journey began as a child who loved to draw.  She studied perspective and figure drawing from books and often spent her free time sketching animals and faces from magazines with pencil and paper.  Encouraged by a friend, she continued her art education at Mission Renaisssance in Los Angeles.

In 1994 she became an art instructor, and began teaching children to draw and paint. In 2004, following the death of her father, she left the school to focus on family. 

Today painting full-time, she lives in the San Gabriel Mountains with her husband and three dogs.  While she does bear the famous Mantle name, she did not inherit the baseball gene but does enjoy biking on the weekends.  In her hillside home, which she likes to call her tree house, she maintains an array of succulent and cactus specimens which can be found in her work.