Heather Clements

I have used art as a catalyst for mental and emotional growth ever since I was a little kid. While growing up in the D.C. metro area of Northern Virginia, I never wavered in my pursuit to be an artist. I graduated cum laude in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
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After graduation I moved to Panama City, Florida, where months later I became the owner of an art gallery and cultural venue space called Gallery Above. Hosting monthly art exhibits, weekly swing dances and film nights, and countless music performances of local and touring bands, Gallery Above served as the hub for the sub-culture of Bay County. 2 years later I worked as exhibitions manager at the local arts museum for a short while before deciding to leave and concentrate on my main love: creating art.
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For 15 years I have been working as a professional artist and art instructor. My work has focused consistently on humans and our connection with nature. Often combining playful abstractions with realistic portraits, my drawings, oil paintings, cut-paper, and watercolors have exhibited in galleries and museums all across the United States.  I have had several solo exhibitions and won many awards for my work including several Best-in-Shows. Recently I have created many murals across Northwest Florida, and as far as New York City.
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In 2018 climate change hit my life and my entire area directly in the form of Hurricane Michael, which formed unusually and extremely quickly into a category 5. The hurricane not only destroyed my home leaving me displaced to temporary less-than-ideal living situations for almost 3 years, but it ripped away so much of the natural environment that I loved. Over millions of acres, the hurricane destroyed 75-90% off all the trees, and 95% of the tree canopy. In the months following the hurricane, I also suffered multiple personal losses and challenges, all leaving me in a deep depression.
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After a year without creating any art, drowning in trauma and loss, I decided to take a drastic step toward self-healing. I booked a tiny off-grid treehouse in the woods of the mountains of North Georgia for a week. Unplugged and isolated, I set out to heal through nature and art. I feared I might just cry for a week, but every morning I hiked and every day I created art until the sun set. I created works about loss that healed me. Inexplicably it worked far better than I could have ever hoped for. That week I clawed out of the depths of my depression, and I have never been back.
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In 2023 I relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, after falling in love with the mountains, endless forest trails, and thriving arts community. Asheville promised to be a haven in the changing climate, and yet recently Hurricane Helene ravaged my life yet again, this time sparing my home, but destroying the gallery and teaching space I belonged to in the River Arts District. Through nature and art, and the arts community, I am healing again.
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My recent work has focused on interactivity: my new book, “Pull Me Apart” is full of pull tabs, spin wheels, and more, for people to manipulate and play. I have also expanded into creating interactive murals, where visitors can spin a giant wooden wheel, revealing different images behind cut-out areas of the design. I am embracing my inner-most weirdo, and creating the art that most wants to come screaming out of me. Paradoxically, when we create something truly for ourselves, it’s what others connect with most. Exploring that beautiful interconnectivity of us all motivates my continued creative pursuits.