Connie M. Clanton was born in Boonesville, MS. Her parents learned that she was deaf when Connie was nine months old, and the apparent cause was a side effect of medicine given to her to relive a high fever. They enrolled her in the Mississippi School for the Deaf in Jackson when she was of school age, and later when the family moved to Nashville, TN, Connie attended the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Knoxville, from which she graduated in 1967.
Her family knew early on that she had a talent for painting. Connie knew for sure at about age nine that she wanted to be an artist.
Connie moved to Raleigh, NC, where she was able to study art at Meredith College with Dr. Craig Greene and Dr. Maureen Banker. While there, she also studied with the well-known artist Charles Kapsner during 1990-1992. She says " I thank God for Dr Greene and for his patience and ability to teach me so much about art."
With her husband, Dee, and daughter, Natalie, Connie moved to Concord, NH in July, 1994. Her paintings are on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, as well as at White Interiors in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is currently showing her work at Interior Additions in Concord, NH.
"As a Deaf Artist I enjoy using the media of oil to paint children on the beach. When I paint that type of thing I can feel the ocean and I can imagine the surroundings. I also enjoy doing Intaglios which are a challenge and that is what makes them so much fun. The subject of hands is a big part of what I do in Intaglio. When I first started to sell these pieces of art people were so excited that it inspired me to do more."
