We all would want to be in class with Virginia-based artist Clayton Singleton. Clayton joins the Studio Noize fam and has a wide-ranging discussion about his colorful layered artwork, the art community in the Virginia area and the fantastic way that he approaches teaching. He tells us some great childhood stories that feed into reoccurring themes in his work. We talk about his use of adinkra symbols and how he balances his personal work and ideas with his robust portrait commission work. It’s another great conversation on the Noize. Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 137 topics include:

the Virginia art community

adinkra symbols/meaning

teaching with passion

taking care of family

doing portrait commissions

the business of art

the Soul Finger Project at Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center

“You sense what people call passion” when you are around Clayton Singleton. This Virginia resident’s blend of verbal and visual art inspires, motivates and educates. In addition to once being a member of the Hampton Roads National Poetry Slam Team, he has been noted in many publications ranging from The Virginian Pilot to Time magazine.   

Clayton has created public art, won numerous awards, and produced several solo and group shows including Walking on Paper at ArtWorks gallery, Recent Works: ART INSTALLATION PERFORMANCE at SONO gallery and LOOK BEYOND at d’ART Center @The Selden, which benefited The Autism Society of Tidewater. The Virginia Opera commissioned Clayton to design sets for Porgy and Bess and Freedom’s Journey.   ​Clayton has served as a member of Norfolk's All-City Teaching Team, The d'ART Center Board of Directors and Norfolk Arts Commission. 

In addition to helping rewrite Norfolk's art curriculum, he produced solo exhibitions DEFINING BEAUTY at The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, CULTURAL SHIFT at The James Wise Gallery at Norfolk State University, LOVE OF THE GAME at The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and VALEDICTORIAN which consists of paintings, mixed media and video; an extension of the group show Looking Both Ways: Roots in African American Art at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center. Moreover, Singleton exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, The Chrysler Museum of Art and has co-curated regional group exhibitions such as NOW: African-American Artists in Tidewater. Most recently he produced a solo exhibition FUTURE LOVE PARADISE which toured for two years beginning at Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center and ended at his alma mater Virginia Wesleyan University.

See More: www.claytonsingleton.com + Clayton Singleton IG @claytonsingletonartist

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast