Catherine Davis—born and raised in Talladega, Alabama—is a senior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) majoring in art history with a minor in fine arts. She was first introduced to art as a child by her grandmother, who liked to paint and draw herself and would often let Catherine help her with small crafts. Though their interests greatly differed, her grandmother was always passionate about and supportive of Catherine’s artwork.
Although her works vary in medium, Catherine mostly paints and draws, using a combination of materials such as graphite, ink, acrylic, and charcoal. The focus of her artwork also tends to vary. Themes found in her art are often rooted in horror imagery, while others are based in other interests such as nature and architecture. As a result of her lifelong fascination with the horror genre, many of her pieces are somewhat dark and may be gory or graphic.
She admits that she was a “wimpy” child who feared everything from the dark to trick-or-treating on Halloween. Her behavior changed, however, with a new discovery: horror and Sci-Fi films. No longer covering her eyes and crying, Catherine began watching back-to-back films while her father soothed her anxieties. This obsession—started around age twelve— remained with her through adolescence and continues into her adulthood. While not all of her artwork is intended to be creepy, it is certainly a recurring descriptor.
Many of the works that Catherine has shared with Aura Literary Arts Magazine were created during the pandemic and lockdown from 2020-2021. All of her submitted pieces were rather dark in focus and quite appropriate, considering that the theme of Volume 47 Issue 1 was a shift from darkness to light. Her intention with pieces such as “Melting Point” and “Caught in Prayer” (both pictured above) is to subtly capture the pressure and anxiety that many felt during the pandemic. A lot of her art revolves around feelings and sensations, and Catherine believes that both the imagery and composition of her artwork capture these quite well.
Simona Shirley is a senior 
pre-medicine student at UAB. She majors in international studies and minors in Spanish, and she believes that art plays a crucial role in every discipline. She turns to poetry and visual art as a means of introspective catharsis, achieving reprieve from the woes of everyday life. Though she has always loved writing and painting, Simona feels that her busy pre-medicine schedule has often distracted her from this passion. By joining the University Honors Program’s (UHP) literary arts magazine, Sanctuary, and helping to organize a small writing club during her junior year, she has reconnected with her artistic side and has begun writing poetry.
Fairly new to writing poetry, Simona’s work is largely based on poetic phrases she hears from the people around her or curiosity about the people and objects she notices in everyday life. She enjoys experimenting with slant rhyme, alliteration, and word play. Her friends and mentors at UHP greatly influence her work with their creative writing prompts, thoughtful critiques, and encouraging words.
One of Simona’s pieces published in the earlier mentioned issue of Aura, “Sealed Shut,” explores the similarities between an abandoned mailbox and the isolating remains of a toxic romance. Her second featured poem, “Feathers and String” (pictured above) draws inspiration from the almost magical role of DNA in creating the world around us, while musing on its parallels with a more romantic theme of interpersonal relationships and reproduction.
