Ceramic Legend: Clayton Bailey

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Jim and Anne Bailey were saddened to hear of the passing of Clayton Bailey in early June. Jim met Clayton at Jim's first NCECA in 1976. Jim was the new kid there; selling his radical new Bailey Slabroller. Clayton Bailey was a leader of the Nut Art Movement in the Bay Area of northern California and a prankster. If you run into Jim and want to hear some stories, ask him about his early NCECAs!

Pictured below is the last time Jim and Clayton chatted at NCECA 2013.

Enjoy these links and pictures of a true Ceramic Legend!

Clayton Bailey, Nut Art Legend

Clayton Bailey was one of the founders of the Nut Art Movement, an offshoot of the Bay Area Funk Movement of the late 1960s. Dr. Gladstone, Bailey's alter-ego, stepped forward to create a new path to channel Bailey's creative mind. Like co-founder, David Gilhooly's frog series, they created new worlds for their art to inhabit.

"I just try to create fun. I think I learned that early on from things like Mad Magazine. I’ve always thought humor was an important thing. I read all these books by H. Allen Smith about the world’s greatest practical jokes and thought, boy, this is the life!" -from A Conversation with Clayton Bailey.

Wearing a pith helmet and a lab coat, Dr. George Gladstone performed excavation like the discovery of the Big Foot skeleton, pictured above. The World of Wonders was a traveling museum dedicated to the life and work of Dr. Gladstone. As the Curator of Kaolithic Curiosities, Clayton Bailey explained that the "Wonders of the World Museum" is a pseudo-scientific educational institution that includes a Fossil Museum that shows proof of the existence of mythical and legendary animals with its mammoth collection of kaolithic curiosities. The Museum settled in Port Costa, California, and become a popular tourist attraction.

Clayton Bailey was also well known for his metal and found object kinetic robots. To truly get an idea of the scope of Clayton Bailey's work and legacy, spend some time exploring his time capsule of a website!

Robots - Artist's Label - Clayton Bailey

There is also a love story in the life and times of Clayton Bailey. In Antigo, Wisconsin, he found the love of his life in Junior High School. Clayton and Betty Graveen were crowned King and Queen at Homecoming their senior year and married shortly after graduation. Theirs was a long marriage filled with love of art and the magic of creating. Betty was known for her ceramic work of quirky domestic scenes and amusing illustrations of their life and friends.

For the full story of Clayton Bailey's life, read his obituary from the San Franscisco Chronicle.

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