A North Carolina native, Clayton Bass has shown professionally in gallery and museum exhibitions for 26 years. His works are represented by galleries in Birmingham and Huntsville, and in private, corporate and museum collections in seven states.  Five works are on permanent display at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis hotel. In 2000 his first New York solo exhibition opened at Space 504 Gallery on Broadway. 

Recently his focus has been on several related bodies of work including The Dreaming Pool, Nature's Gifts, The Sanctuary Series, Dawn and Dusk, and The Flint River Series inspired by forested river valleys and mountains of the southeastern U.S. Throughout his career, nature has informed his paintings, works on paper and sculptural pieces. The interplay of light and shadow is a recurring theme. Photography plays an important role, serving to capture compositions, light and details, translating into works that evolve beyond the source images.

A graduate of East Carolina University with a B.F.A. in painting and a minor in drawing, he also completed the Empire State College (SUNY) Studio Program in New York City where he apprenticed with painter Michael Goldberg. 

Running parallel with creating art, Bass has enjoyed a museum career since 1989, beginning at the Carlos Museum at Emory University. After seven years as Executive Director of the Walter Anderson Museum, he accepted the position of President and CEO in 2002 of the Huntsville Museum of Art.

Bass enjoys living and hiking in the mountains south of Huntsville with his wife, a children’s author, and their two teenage children.