Gayle Clark Legacy Collection

Gayle Marie Clark was born in New Orleans, LA, on May 15, 1932. As a child, Gayle first explored art by attending classes at the Delgado Art Museum (now the New Orleans Museum of Art). Her artistic and creative skills were further honed when, as a teenager, she worked at the New Orleans Opera Association as a makeup artist and costumer, later becoming the paid director of the makeup department.

In 1976, she began working in metal, attending intensive workshops at leading craft schools and universities, producing pewter holloware, direct metal sculptures, small bronze castings, and jewelry in sterling silver. She credited her greatest learning experience to Fred Fenster, Professor Emeritus of Arts Metals, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Gayle's work has been exhibited at the Mississippi Museum of Art and The Old Capitol Museum, Jackson, MS; the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Meridian, MS; the Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C., and the Walter Anderson Museum of Art.

From 1981 to 2000, she was the proprietor of Gayle Clark Artisans at the old train depot in Ocean Springs, MS, selling her own and other artists' work. Gayle was an exhibiting member of the Mississippi Craftsmen's Guild beginning in 1976, and later served 13 years on its board and three terms as President.