About the artist

Hannah Celeste Garrison is a visual artist and nature lover from San Antonio, Texas. She graduated in 2014 from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art.

Hiking is essential to her mental well-being, but she doesn't often get that chance. So she looks around at all the nature that surrounds her - even in those mundane places such as parking lots and sidewalks, nature will always find a way to peep through. Her works are created using oil paint on clear discarded acrylic panels. She aims to draw attention to small, less obvious natural objects – wood, bark, rocks, roots, decaying matter, discarded nests, and more.

Hannah offers a different perspective on the natural world, by showcasing the natural beauty in these things that are otherwise tossed and discarded. These objects - often rocks and small pieces of wood are all around us. We pass them by on the way to our cars. We rake them and toss them when the leaves start to fall and mess up our yards. Hannah brings them to life by enlarging them and filling them with color - to show that they are just as important to human life as they are to human creativity. She hopes to remind people to look closely at their surroundings and not take the natural world for granted. By showcasing the beauty and importance of these organic materials, her art can inspire a deeper appreciation for the environment and encourage conservation efforts.

As an art instructor

A diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 2017 led her to experiment with using art as a form of physical, occupational, and mental health therapy for herself. Neuroplasticity, or the ability of neurons to create new pathways in the human brain, is enhanced by the repetition of certain activities. Theoretically, engagement in the arts can help in more ways than one.

Everything she creates is centered around the idea that art can be therapeutically and strategically implemented to heal. Her teachable artworks apply the use of repetition, bold colors, and simplification of complicated elements. She incorporates the use of line, texture, and rhythm – scribbles – to keep things lighthearted, intuitive, and playful; all in the name of making art more accessible and relatable.

She currently works with multiple nonprofit organizations as an art instructor for adults facing life-altering health challenges. This includes collaborative arts projects, group art projects, window painting, live art demonstrations, virtual creative classes, and patient bedside activities.

Her work aims to address the isolation often felt by vulnerable adult populations, such as cancer patients, Veterans, and others living with serious chronic illnesses. When she’s not working with a patient on an art project, she invites them to help paint window murals in their hospital rooms. Doing so sparks a strange sense of wonder and curiosity that they never imagined was possible during a hospital stay.

In 2022, Hannah was named Benefit Honoree for the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America’s annual gala fundraising event for her work helping to build their Improving Lives Through Art fundraising series.