Serena Niesley: Nature as Connection

Nature has a way of healing not only our bodies, but our minds and souls as well.

It’s this meditative way of looking at plants that healed Philadelphia-based artist Serena Niesley. She also took this experience with plants and applied it to her artwork. During college, she found herself incorporating these earth-tones into her paintings, just subtle hints to nature. 

“Now my work is much more literally referencing plants and nature, but at that point it was in more of an abstract and vague way.” 

Even then when she was adding these natural references to her work, she knew she needed to get back to her roots of being outside.

“At that point I realized that I was missing nature… I was missing that feeling of being small.”

Every stroke of her paintbrush across a page is deeply rooted in her own emotions and perspectives of the world around her. 

If she needs more inspiration about a piece, it’s not far out her door -- even if it's a single stalk growing out of the sidewalk.

“I look at plants and I see they’re all a part of the same ecosystem. Everything they do affects each other and I really think that’s true of humans. And I also see nature and plantlife as just a gift that can ground us. I see plants as a universal place of connection because they’re so accessible for everyone.”

For more information about Serena and to see more of her work visit her website and Etsy shop. You can also follow her on Instagram.

This episode of PlantPop was filmed by Laura Christian.