Elvira Clayton describes her work as ritualistic vessels holding stories of lost and forgotten people. Much of her work responds to the lives of those who lived under American slavery. “Through my practice, I am honoring my own enslaved ancestors,” she says. Her multi-disciplinary work includes installation, performance, assemblage sculpture, textile art, and printmaking. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the U.S. As a member of the performance group Black Women Artist, she has performed at The New Museum and The Brooklyn Museum in New York City and Project Row Houses in Houston.
Clayton is a 2022-2023 A.I.R. Gallery Fellow, a 2022 Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grant recipient, and a 2022 Robert Blackburn Studio Immersion Fellow. She has been an artist-in-residence with The Women’s Studio Workshop, Residency Unlimited, The Anderson Center, and Blue Mountain Center. Elvira has been both a Laundromat Project Create Change Fellow and a Commissioned Artist. She is a four-time recipient of The Manhattan Community Arts Fund Grant. Her work has been featured in The Killens Review, Glasstire, Callaloo Journal, and Artsy.net.