In childhood, Clay split his time between Oak Ridge, TN (home to a National Laboratory) and Greenback, TN (home to many cows) which instilled in him a scientific curiosity and emotional care for the natural world. He went on to earn a BFA in Photography and Media Arts from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and now lives and works in the city. An active member of the Chattanooga arts community, he founded an artist run space called Dry Ice Gallery which ran monthly exhibitions and programming for three years. Since then, Clay has taken on the role of Director at Mineral House Media, an online arts publication and digital residency program. He leads monthly urban birding workshops, and hosts a monthly artist talk open mic dubbed "Art-A-Nooga Tonight" where the community is invited to present anything they would like for seven minutes. Contact Clay to present at Art-A-Nooga.

I specialize in making multi-disciplinary works about birds. These encompass a wide range of media and illusions, all with an underlying sense of absurdity. My practice is guided by the calm and occasional excitement of birding, and the heightened sense of observation that comes with it. Through such quiet and patient observation I hope to bring attention to the changing ways in which relationships between humans and birds are created and utilized, and how both parties affect each other. Our natural world will not survive without careful recognition of the sovereignty of non-human living beings, and the implementation of reciprocal care practices with the land. What can we learn from the birds about how to care for our world, so that it can care for us?