Bridging Gaps From the Past to the Present and to the Future
Meet The Founders!
Art by Amaranthia Sepia
Claire Jones
Claire Jones is the Co-Founder and serves as Co-Director, Writer, Editor, and Advisor on all SCR-related projects, leading many of SCR's speaking engagements. Claire also assists with filming, photography and video captioning.
In one week in March 2022, Claire lost her mobility by the hour. Enduring emergency surgery to remove a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma from her spine, she let go of all delusions and illusions about her health. Claire is now within the 1% category to walk again after such surgery. Now in remission and recently diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma, Claire redetermined to help marginalized women gain inner strength by accessing their artistic side.
A Buddhist and Frances Perkins Scholar, Claire's journey to scholarship began during her childhood in Barbados when she sought relief from living under domestic violence. Claire uses her creative works, writings and her mother-daughter project Sista Creatives Rising to encourage women trauma-survivors to utilize art for self-improvement. In the 1990s, standing at The Door of No Return on Gorée Island, Senegal, where enslaved people last saw their homeland, she reaffirmed her purpose: to overcome intergenerational trauma.
Amaranthia Sepia
Amaranthia Sepia serves as Co-Founder, Art Director, Head Graphic Designer/Illustrator, and Accessibility Lead on all SCR-related projects. Amarantha also manages SCR's social media and website, plus does a ton of video editing!
Amaranthia Sepia feels it's critical to use her voice to facilitate representation of marginalized women. As a Buddhist Black, invisibly disabled woman with C-PTSD, panic disorder, and agoraphobia, she highlights unconventional experiences through art.
Returning to America after spending her childhood in Japan, Sepia was severely bullied. Creating works based on fond memories of Tokyo taught her the healing power of art. Since 13, she's coordinated art events on anti-bullying advocacy, BLM, disability, and women's mental health. Now 25, she provides these groups tools for utilizing their creativity to gain confidence to make a difference in their communities.
Amaranthia was previously a resident of Socially Distant Art 2022-23, a virtual residency about disability accessibility, and the 2023-24 Northstar Black Cooperative Fellowship Cohort with her Mom, Claire. She's won the 2024 NH Panther Black Excellence Fund Grant, Hannan Gallery's Emerge Festival 1st Place Next Gen Award, and the 2024 New Hampshire Racial Unity Team's Art & Poetry 1st Place Adult Prize.
In Memoriam -Meena-Serenity
OUR LATE FEEL-GOOD AMBASSADOR & EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL (ESA) WITH INVISIBLE DISABILITIES. 10/19/2018 - 03/21/2025
Meena-Serenity was Amaranthia's first kitty. Both Libras born on October 19th, Meena was Amaranthia's soul-cat. A six-year-old white rescue cat mixed with Ragdoll, Maine Coon, Turkish Angora, Blue Russian, and many other playful dog-like breeds, Meena was fueled by cuddles, kisses, hugs, and playtime. Meena loved to race around the house and gallop while playing chase. While she was Amaranthia's ESA, Meena also dealt with anxiety and PTSD symptoms and a chronic condition called pododermatitis, making her immunosuppressed like Claire. Ultimately, Meena passed on March 21st, 2025, soon after coming home from 24-hour emergency treatment for a sudden pneumonia infection caused by the immunosuppressants used to treat her condition. Meena loved to sit in windows and often invited her Big Momma, Claire, to watch. Claire pretended she was excited about seeing nothing as Meena purred contentedly while sitting on her stool. She loved to cuddle with Little Momma, Amaranthia, under the blankets every morning.
Meena was a rescue we found online through the Rutherford County Humane Society in 2019.
Claire (on left) and Amaranthia (on right) are both holding a collaborative work, "Curls and Curves" showing three dark-skinned Black women with stylized multi-hued hair.
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