C W Conner Obituary

 Posted on my blog last year

Obituary for Claude William Conner

C.W. (Claude W.) Conner was born October 21, 1939 in Walton County, Georgia. He passed away on December 1, 2020 in his home in Ellijay, Georgia. He spent much of his early childhood in the rural South among the simple joys of a way of life now forgotten. His family moved to Marietta, near Atlanta, in 1943 so that his Father could find work. As a boy and later as a teenager, C.W.’s ambition to become an artist grew. As a young man, his desire to pursue a career in art was put on hold because of the need to earn a living. So, he applied his native artistic talents outside the art world as a draftsman and in the building trades. He had extensive experience in home design, building and landscape design. Even though he did not have any formal art instruction, over the years he continued to experiment with materials that were available to him to develop an original artistic style of his own.

C.W. Conner’s art reflects his humble beginnings in the rural American South and his adult life experience in the “big city.” His unique painting method used found objects and materials like old barn wood, tin roofing material and various types of house paints along with more traditional art materials. His women’s faces, figures, roosters and scenes of country folk going about their everyday chores and enjoying life’s little pleasures have become his trademarks. His carved walking sticks are legendary.

C.W. lived his life on his own terms and said he had done everything he wanted to do.

C.W. was preceded in death by his parents Claude Herschel Conner and Sallie Brown Conner. He is survived by his loving sister and brother in law, Janelle Conner Miller and Hugh, his nephews and their wives: Kent Miller and, Selma, Curt Miller and Elizabeth, Stan Miller and Patti Waller and his niece and her husband, Zana Miller Ireland and A.J., his daughter and her husband Cherie and Mark Countz and their children and many grand nieces and grand nephews and countless friends and neighbors.

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