Unity

Claire Clements, a member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens, Georgia, paints outdoors, surrounded by her muse of choice, the “natural, wild forms of nature.” She writes, “I am fascinated with experiencing, connecting, capturing, and symbolizing its moods, actions, and effects.”

“I paint quickly and loosely, trying to capture the very nature of what attracted me to that particular aspect of my surroundings,” says Clements. Then she moves into the studio, uses craft knives to cut the painted paper, and pieces her art together with glue. “Most works take a very long time to complete and can be very complex,” she says.

Unity symbolizes “wholeness and unity” to Clements. She writes that the circles, imitating suns and moons, “beckon the viewer to experience and feel connections through the artwork and perceive the symbolic messages and thoughts.” Nature can, according to Clements, “express deeper meanings that we, as sentient beings, perceive.”