About the Artist

Clayton Robbins was a professional artist who lived and worked in Holladay, Utah. He was born in Alberta, Canada in 1919 but was raised and remained in Utah until his death in 2010. From the moment he sculpted a clay buffalo in the first grade he was known as the class artist. This reputation followed him throughout his school years. After graduating from East High School, he studied fine art at the University of Utah where he received training from Alvin Gittins, Paul Davis, Mable Frazer, and LeConte Stewart.

Clayton was involved in fine art most of his life, but it wasn’t until after retirement that he truly pursued it as a full-time profession. The last 30 years of his life was devoted almost exclusively to the creation of bronze sculpture. 

He established himself as a figurative realist (who occasionally invaded Impressionism). Clayton regarded sculpture as a perpetual challenge. An ongoing process of perfecting his ability to create a form or figure that would cause the viewer to experience the emotion which inspired the creation. He believed realism was the best approach to accomplishing this outcome. 

Clayton was incredibly detailed and precise in his creation of art, but not without innovation and creativity. He had a gift for capturing motion and action in a moment suspended in clay. “Sack Racers” is a favorite and well-known bronze he created. It portrays five children jovially competing in a gunny sack race. Dave Jagon of the Deseret News had this favorable review about the sculpture. “In Robbins’ Rodin-esque piece “Jumping Sacks” the artist has fashioned a faux buoyancy – the children appear to float in midair, unattached to the base of the sculpture. The work gives the viewer a sense of the antics inherent in a sack race.” While in the process of creating this piece, Clayton wrote the following poem.

Jack Jill jump spill
yell scream strain dream
taunting teasing pushing squeezing
joy laughter now and after.
Fierce competition, no inhibition
a simple carefree childhood game.
Each one different, - all the same.
Struggle jostle wiggle waddle
There and back - Jumping jack
all wrapped up in a gunny sack.

Noteable works include:

• Character bronzes for the Utah Shakespearen Festival, including: Juliet, King Lear, Hamlet, Sir Jon Fallstaff, Titania, Henry V, and Kate. All were completed in miniature size and some were completed in life size. Located at The Catherine and Robert Pedersen Shakespeare Character Garden in Cedar City, Utah. https://www.bard.org/character-garden
• “Extra Mileage”- two boys swinging on an old tire swing over water. John Price residence. Boise botanical art garden (relocated from the old Boise town square mall)
• A football sculpture awarded to the outstanding collegiate player of the year presented by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors.
• An oak wood sculpture of a female torso for Ecotec Corp in Evanston, Wyoming.
• A bronze bust of Willie Nelson, located in the Caesars Palace Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Two bronze sculptures of David Salisbury of Salt Lake City, Utah. One of him skiing and one of him playing tennis. 1984
• Bronze busts of Roger and Kathy Penske’s 3 children. Red Bank, New Jersey.