PANAMA CITY - Tucked away in her office on the second floor of the Gallery Above art gallery on Harrison Avenue, Heather Clements is hard at work brainstorming for new promotions for her gallery.
"It takes up most of my time," said Clements. "Promotion is definitely one of the harder aspects of the job."
It is also a job she would not have foreseen herself having a chance at one year ago. A native of Virginia, Clements was a lifelong art lover.
"I have been creating art for as long as I can remember," said Clements.
Her love of art was nurtured by her musician father and accountant mother. Her father, who also dabbled in art, would give advice and some instruction when the young Clements was first discovering her artistic talents.
"I first realized that I could actually make money from art in the fifth grade," said Clements. "I drew little cartoon characters or monsters on sheets of paper and kids would pay me for them."
From those early moments Clements threw herself completely into art. Taking as many classes as she could and absorbing it all, she was soon experimenting with oils, charcoal, watercolors and a whole host of other mediums.
Her talent for art did not go unnoticed and she won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Maryland Institute for Fine Art in Baltimore.
It was here that she fine tuned her technique and explored more mediums. Clements drew inspiration from famous artists, such as William Kentridge and Egon Schielle. These artists continue to inspire her work.
Clements graduated with a bachelor's of fine art in painting in May 2007. Upon graduation, Clements knew she wanted a change of scenery, but where exactly, she did not know.
"A friend of mine moved to Panama City and began asking me if I would be interested in moving here," said Clements. "I began looking up information on the Internet and decided to make the move."
Clements found herself in the thick of the burgeoning art community in Panama City and started making contacts throughout the area. One contact in particular, Chris Merriam, played an unexpected role in her future. 
"Chris called me and told me he was going to leave the Gallery Above so he could focus on his business," she explained. "It just so happened I had decided I wanted to run a gallery."
Seizing that bit of serendipity, Clements took control of the Gallery Above and has not looked back since.
"I'm still searching for my balance," she said. "The business side of the gallery takes up a lot of my time, but after New Year's I plan to invest more time in my art."
Highly influenced by music, people and even animation, Clements applies herself to any medium possible. She mostly works alone, but at times she will have a live model.
“Only when they don’t talk,” said Clements laughing.
As of late, her art is infused with her current theme of honesty and authenticity.
Clements says she always prided herself on her honesty, but when some friends began tabulating lists of 100 honest things about themselves, she felt inspired and added deeply frank and honest statements about herself within her work.
“Ever since then, my art has honesty and authenticity. My guts just spill out onto the canvas.”
The art, revealing and brutally honest, sometimes deals with denial and provides a healthy release for these issues.
Clements considers this a very therapeutic catharsis and some of Panama City’s homegrown artists are following Clements’ lead.
“The art scene is small but steadily growing. I’m friends with the owner of the Corner Gallery. We have the same goal, which is to give local artists a venue to showcase their work and help grow the scene.”
Clements works diligently, to not only be the best and most honest and authentic artist she can be, but also to bring the best of Panama City’s art to the forefront. The last six months may have been a whirlwind, but Clements is having no problems finding her equilibrium on the Emerald Coast.
Gallery Above
The Gallery Above has promotions and showings weekly.
“Each month we’re going to have either a themed show or an individual show,” said Clements.
The themed shows will usually correspond with the month. For example, February will have to do with love and hearts in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
The gallery also sports a new bookstore, which specializes in books on art. On the third Saturday of each month, there will be “Versa Vice” – a literary and performance art show, which will feature spoken prose, poetry, musicians and interpretive dance.
On the fourth Friday of every month, Clements plans on inviting independent bands and musicians to perform at the gallery.
Clements welcomes anyone to stop by and show her some of his or her work. The gallery showcases a variety of artists all expressing deep meaning in their art. To have an individual show, artists must have many strong pieces ready for such an event. For a themed show, artists must have a work of art that contains the central theme of the show.
