Clarence George Young | “Clay“

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana on 29 March 1926, Clay–the name he used to sign his artwork and by which family, friends, and community alike knew him–was a gentle and deep-feeling man with a lofty, wide-open spirit. When he laughed you laughed, and Clay loved to laugh. Perhaps it had to do with harboring the weight of the times: a United States reeling in its racist practices; the burgeoning of the Civil Rights Movement; a mind for the politics, possibilities, and necessity of unionizing; and above all, savoring levitas rooted to a gravitas that spoke of a deep knowing of what it means to live in the world as a whole human being.

[Self Portrait: Oil Painting, c. 1983 | Young Family Heirloom