Become my friend on myspace.

I now have a shop section of the site! You will see on the menu to the right there is now a shop. It links to my Etsy page which I plan to add more to once my show at Gulf Coast is over. Right now I just have a few pieces for sale because I want to have plenty of art for my upcoming exhibit. I am very excited to have this easy way to shop from my site!

(See the next blog post to see more info on my show! I have a facebook event set up, click here to view and rsvp.)

Also, I have a new medium love: printmaking. Now that I have access to a printing press, I love it! A year ago I tried linoleum printmaking to no success because I was printing by hand. I never realized how much of a difference using an actual printing press could make! Now that I am printmaking, you can expect more affordable pieces of art. I am starting to believe that it is important to get my message into more people's homes. My current series is of global importance so I especially want the viewer to be affected. If they see a piece once, they may forget about it. But if they live with the piece, it has so much more of a chance to soak in. My linoleum prints will soon be up on my Etsy site. Keep an eye out!

August 19, 2010

It has been almost a year since my last post and a lot has happened. I worked at the Visual Arts Center of Northwest Florida as Exhibitions Manager and Graphic Designer for 9 months. While I was passionate about the hard work I did there, I felt it was time to move on. I felt a need to concentrate on my personal art as well as teaching.

I can still be found teaching every Wednesday (except when there are guest instructors) at Studio B in Alys Beach. I am also holding Portrait Drawing classes there as well as some private lessons. The energy at Studio B is always high, and I enjoy gaining inspiration from my students.

Coming soon, I have a solo exhibit at Gulf Coast Community College. I am inspired and working hard on new art for this show. Here are the details:

Heather Clements
A Selection of Works: Past, Present, but not Future
An art exhibit featuring paintings, drawings, and prints by Heather Clements
September 17 - October 8, 2010
Opening Reception: September 17, 5-7pm
Visiting Artist Lecture: September 17, 1-4pm
Amelia Center Main Gallery (Room 112)
at Gulf Coast Community College
Free and open to the public
Gallery Hours are Monday through Friday 10am - 4pm. For more info, please call 850.769.1551 ext. 2890

October 15th, 2009

It has now been three and a half months since Gallery Above closed. Somehow, I still exist without it. It had become such a part of me that we were inseparable in many ways. Now, I am moving on. I was in limbo for a little while. It was a nice, desperately needed decompression time, in which I mourned the loss of the gallery, got my normal sleeping patterns back, and even read a couple of good books. All of a sudden, however, I seem to find myself with a million things to do, yet again. All good things. When I said I was surprised my life wasn't calming, a friend said, 'I don't think your life will ever be calm, you have too much drive!' I suppose that is true.

Currently, I am still teaching two classes at the Visual Arts Center. I also teach figure drawing once a week at Studio B in Alys Beach. Two days a week I can be found custom framing. And possibly the biggest news: The Visual Arts Center is hiring me as their new Director of Exhibitions. And of course I have a handful of personal art commissions and other various projects that keep me quite busy.

As far as my own art goes, I have posted 6 new pieces under the 'Mixed Media' section. Please, go check them out! I have also started getting into a new medium: printmaking. I'm not posting any images yet, as I feel like I am still finding my way in this medium.

I really do live art.

July 22nd, 2009

Well, the Gallery Above has closed. I put everything I had (and more) into keeping it alive, but it finally ran out of money. The Gallery Above was such a huge importance in my life, and as I have been told, in the lives of others. While I am sad that it had to close, I am proud of the impact I had on the area, and the accomplishments I acheived through the Gallery Above. Goodbye, Gallery Above.

Currently, I am in a bit of limbo. I have a few job opportunities that I am waiting to hear from. I still teach Portrait Drawing and Life Drawing at the Visual Arts Center. I am still making art, that's for sure. With the gallery closed I can breath a lot more. I will have more time for art-making, and less stress so that I can get some sleep and get rid of this eye twitch. Updates to come on what I'll be doing with my life...

May 16th, 2009

I am now going to be teaching another class at the Visual Arts Center. Every Thursday starting June 11th, I will be teaching life figure drawing. I think it is of great importance to have a real figure class available for artists. In my opinion, there is no better drawing practice than drawing from a live, nude model.

I have been working hard on my new series. Right now I am working on a relatively large triptych. I can't wait until my solo show!

April 16th, 2009

I am scheduled to have another solo show at the Gallery Above in November 2009. This will mark the 2 year anniversary since my last solo show here, as well as my ownership of the gallery. The show will consist of works I have created in the past 2 years, since owning the Gallery Above.

That being said, from now until November, I will not be showing any of my new work. I have been quite busy coming up with a new series that has not been shown yet. (There are even some works without the octopus...) Between now and November I might only post a few images of details of some works. I want people to see a lot of brand new pieces of art when coming to my opening in November.

The opening will be Friday, November 6th, 2009. Title is TBA.

I am teaching Portrait Drawing at the Visual Arts Center again. I am in the middle of the second six-week series. The students are very responsive and seem to get a lot out of the class.

The weather is warm again, so that means you can catch me at a lot of the festivals this summer between Pensacola and Tallahassee, showing art and drawing portraits!

I just added images of the two new fabric pieces! Look at the end of 'Recent Series' in the Artwork section. The two newest pieces are called, 'Reach' and 'Floating.' I plan to continue with this medium even though it is ridiculously time-consuming. Each of the new pieces took about 10 hours each. I also added a couple of images to the 'Commissioned Work' section.

I started teaching a Portrait Drawing class at the Visual Arts Center. It is a 6 week series. So far it is going well, the students are great and I really feel like I am spreading some knowledge.

I have finally started my new series of art. Actually, I would consider it more of a drastic shift from my most recent series, rather than a whole new one. The octopus is still with me. Perhaps it will be with me for as long as I own and run the Gallery Above. I have said for a long time now that there is no separation between the Gallery Above and myself. I am the gallery and the gallery is me. Since I am the octopus as well, by the transitive property, the octopus is the Gallery Above.

Last night was the opening for the Bay Annual at the Visual Arts Center. Each member of the VAC was allowed to submit two pieces of art. Both of the works that I entered were accepted. At the opening, they announced some awards. There was grand prize of $1,000, a few merit awards for $100 and several honorable mentions. I received a merit award for my painting 'Just Read It.' I was quite pleased to receive this award!

This week the new issue of 'Coastal Homes and Lifestyles' magazine came out. They have been interviewing me and taking photos of the gallery for some time now for an article. Much to my pleasant surprise, the gallery made the cover! This beautiful, oversized magazine features a close-up of a blurry, moving swing night at the Gallery Above on the cover. It reads, 'Shaking up the PC Art Scene.' Inside is a glorious 6-page article with large, colorful photographs, focusing on myself as an artist, and the Gallery Above. This is truly the best press I have ever received.

A few days ago I returned from Shanghai, China. It was an amazing experience and the Chinese are huge in contemporary art right now. I was very impressed and inspired. I visited the Shanghai Museum, the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) and an amazing art gallery district referred to as M50. I feel a new series of art coming, if not a dramatic shift and variation of my recent one. Whatever happens in my upcoming work, I know it will be heavily influenced by the arts and culture of Shanghai, as well as my personal experiences there.

Tomorrow I leave for Shanghai, China. I will be there for 8 days for a real vacation. I plan on seeing a lot of the contemporary art that the Chinese have to offer. I cannot wait.

November 1st, 2008

Today is my one year anniversary! Thanks to so many people, especially my parents, the Gallery Above lives on.

My one-year anniversary for owning the Gallery Above is coming up: November 1st, 2008. This seems to be the most important year of my life, thus far. I feel as though I am really making a positive mark on this community. I am proud of what I have done this year.

Welcome to my new website! I have had heatherclementsart.com for quite some time now, but it was amateur, at best. Thanks to the help of an amazing person, Gavin Castleton, my website is finally professional and easy to update! Thanks Gavin!!!