Meadowlark Gallery: The Artist Biographies

Gloria Clay
Gloria Clay is traditional sculptor portraying western ranch life. She was born near Gillette, Wyoming in 1930. When she was twelve years old, she got her first set of oil paints. After graduating from high school as Gillette's rodeo queen, she learned leather tooling in a saddle shop, married, moved to a ranch in Laramie, and began doing commissioned portraits of horses and bulls. In 1977, she attended her first art class, a ten week session on sculpture. "From then on, it was a case of learning by doing," she declares. "I may not be as prolific as some artists because I still spend part of my time outside living this life I try to portray; it's the best way to acquire the inspiration and authenticity that I want and to point up a rope dallied the wrong way, a crooked legged horse, or a knot that's not tied right. So aside from the days when somebody says ‘can you help?' when I go back to my jobs of hired hand, horse wrangler, dude wrangler, hay mower, tally keeper, vaccinator, gate watcher, etc., I'd like to spend the rest of my life as a sculptor, with a little painting thrown in now and then."
View high resolution images of works by Gloria Clay when available.