Hannah Garrison 

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 her Bachelor's degree in Fine Art. Hannah was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the summer of 2017. She currently volunteers as a self-help group leader for the National MS Society of San Antonio once per month and AnCan (Answer Cancer Foundation) twice per month.

She is an Artist-In-Residence for Hearts Need Art, a San Antonio-based nonprofit organization that works to bring the arts to patients facing life-altering health challenges. Prior to the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, her time was spent with patients at the Outpatient setting and Inpatient settings at a local hospital. She worked to design, implement, and engage with patients with collaborative arts projects, group art projects, window painting, live art demonstrations, and patient bedside activities. At present, she engages with patients/students via online platforms, utilizing the art supplies that her students already have available to them and creating accessible, patient- centered projects while also lending an ear to those who need one.

The act of creating and doing something fun just for the sake of having fun is essential for growth and for healing. For her, this healing first was manifested as mental health healing. The act of putting paint or pen to paper is seen as a safe space for exploration, mindfulness, and a chance to practice self-love. This, in her opinion, has helped her to create new neuropathways that were eroded as a result of her multiple sclerosis diagnosis.

In addition to art, hiking is just as essential to her mental well-being. However, she does not often get that chance. Multiple sclerosis and heat intolerance will often get in the way of her exploration plans. So, she looks around at all the nature that surrounds - even in those mundane places such as parking lots and sidewalks. Nature will always find a way to peep through. In her professional works, she collects and paints abstractions of her rock and wood collections in the hopes that she can inspire someone to see what she sees in them.

www.hgarrisonart.com
hgarrisonart@gmail.com
Instagram @h._.celeste