Avery Clayton is a native of Los Angeles, California, and received his Bachelor of Arts Degree with a dual major in Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts, and Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Pen & ink, watercolor, oils and acrylics are Clayton’s primary mediums, his original works are included in prominent private and public collections, worldwide his commisions include the 1984 Los Angeles Organizing Committee Olympic Mural Commission; Seven Up Bottling Companies of Southern California, American Cancer Society, Los Angeles, Conference of Black Churches, New York, Congresswoman Diane E. Watson, Jackie Robinson Center and the American Heart Association, to name a few. Clayton has taught art for Los Angeles and Pasadena Unified School Districts from 1986 to 2001. Clayton cutrrently serves as Director/CEO of Mayme A. Clayton Library & Cultural Center (MCL), a division of Western States Black Research and Educational Center (WSBREC). WSBREC is a non-profit organization founded in 1976 by Mayme A. Clayton, Ph.D. MCL maintains the largest and most academically substantial collection of rare and out-of-print books, documents, films, music, photographs and memorabilia on African American culture and history in the Western United States. It is the largest privately held collection in the world, and second in size and scholarly scope to the renowned Schomburg Collection in the New York City Public Library.
