Clayton Samuel King is Eagle Clan, and is a member of Beausoleil First Nation (Chimnissing), of Christian Island, Ontario. Clayton is of Potawatomi and Ojibway descent that was born and raised in St. Catharine’s, Ontario. He is the eldest son of Richard Glen King, and the late Nanette Marie (Banks) King of Madison, Wisconsin. Clayton has called London home for the last three years now. Inspired by his Anishinabek heritage, Clayton enjoys portraying contemporary art in the mediums of painting, drawing, sculpture and photography. His work is concentrated on social, political and cultural concerns regarding First Nations people in Canada. His paintings are a cross between traditional Woodland style, First Nations art and realism. Through his college career, Clayton was the recipient of a few acclaimed municipal, provincial and national awards and scholarships. At an early age Clayton and his younger brother Gregory lived with their Aunt, as a result of the divorce of his parents. By being raised by Gail Stup (his Fathers sister), Clayton found a sense of well being and a wonderful family upbringing as his Aunt and Uncle, who already had six kids of their own, all older than he. He grew up with his family in the neighborhood of Port Weller, in St.Catharines. This neighborhood of the city was right beside Lake Ontario and the Welland Canal. Between the canal and the houses is a wooded forest that stretches for 1 kilometre. It was the sublime of nature in the bush, at the beach, playing at the sand piles and the support of his family that gave Clayton inspiration to visually create art at a young age. At the neighborhood school, from kindergarten to grade eight, Clayton found his artistic talent. In the fall of 1998, Clayton started his post secondary career in London, Ontario. At Fanshawe College, Clayton started to study Fine Arts. Being talented at many things growing up, Clayton found art to be the one satisfying thing in his life. At the beginning of the first semester, Clayton came down with an extremely bad case of appendicitis. He missed two weeks of school. To make matters worse, he lost his biological mother on Halloween that fall. Upset and confused over the tragic event, Clayton dropped out of college and moved away. Over the span of nine years, Clayton found refuge in many towns across the southern United States and Ontario. He lived with his Mother’s father in Tennessee for a short time. He also lived with other relatives in northern Virginia and found refuge in Orillia where he worked at Casino Rama. He would often return to St. Catharines and Christian Island to try get on with his life. Through out this time Clayton hardly did any art work, averaging a drawing a year. After moving back to St. Catharine’s in 2006, Clayton found work as an apprentice for a tattoo artist. Not being able to make that much money for himself as an apprentice, he realized that after all these years he still had talent as an artist, and began to reapply to college. He received notice in the spring of 2007 that he had been accepted into the Fine Arts program at Fanshawe College. The very same program Clayton dropped out of nine years prior. After his first year of college, Clayton made the President’s honor roll with a 4.02 GPA. He also won a National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation Art Scholarship, An Excellence in Education Award from the 7th Generation Charity Foundation and Anishinbek Nation, and the Aboriginal Education Incentive Award from Canada Post, an award won by only 20 First Nation’s students a year throughout Canada. At the end of his final semester of Fine Art, Clayton finished second in a graduating class of 22 artists for best art work of the year and again made the honour roll for a second time with a 4.01 GPA. He was also awarded 'The Faith Marsden Post Secondary Scholarship' from Beausoleil First Nation. Several of Clayton’s paintings and sculptures are in the collection of Fanshawe College, Bell Canada in North Bay, and the several private collectors across Turtle Island. Since graduating with an advanced diploma in Fine Arts from Fanshawe College in April of 2010, Clayton has continued to create contemporary art in the mediums of painting, drawing, sculpture and photography. . Clayton’s work has also appeared in group art shows in the London area. Clayton continues to travel the Pow Wow Trail week to week sharing his art with all those moved by it.

Living in: Canada, Ontario

Disciplines: Visual Arts, Traditional Arts & Design