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Beyond the Ordinary

The world is full of extraordinary. Join me in exploring all that sparks creativity and change.

latest inspiration posts

May’s Inspiration of the Month: Remembering Tina Turner

Tina Turner was a trailblazing icon in more ways than one. Born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939 in Brownsville, Tennessee, she was later known as the "Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll". Turner came from humble beginnings. She started singing in her small town’s church choir as a little girl and was later known to frequent nightclubs in my hometown of St. Louis as a young adult. It was at the Manhattan Club in East St. Louis where she first met Ike Turner after seeing him perform with his band, the Kings of Rhythm. She rose to mainstream fame and persevered through a turbulent marriage and career with Ike, eventually breaking free and receiving even more recognition as a solo artist.

May’s Architect of the Month: Donald Wexler

I have always admired the work of Donald Wexler (1926-2015), an architect known for his significant contributions to modernist architecture in the mid-20th century. Wexler was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1950 and moved to Palm Springs in 1952 to work for William Cody.

Crash Landing: The Inside Story of How the World's Biggest Companies Survived an Economy COVID Crisis

I recently read “Crash Landing: The Inside Story of How the World's Biggest Companies Survived an Economy on the Brink” by award-winning business journalist Liz Hoffman. It was an interesting exposé about how the world's most powerful CEOs built the US economy only to watch it fall before their eyes – and never saw it coming. The book does a great job of putting the reader in the middle of the CEO experience, from the realization of how deep the pandemic crisis would be, to the strategies they were working on to save their companies. Clayco and our team had these same stories. From helping the White House and CDC navigate how to work safely to keep our job sites going, to responding to the drastic growth of E-Commerce, we responded to the same circumstances.

Transforming the Everyday into Stunning Sculptures with El Anatsui

El Anatsui is a Ghanaian sculptor who has gained international recognition for his ground-breaking work in transforming everyday materials into stunning, monumental sculptures. Born in Anyako, Ghana, in 1944, he studied at the College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. In 1975, El began teaching at the Fine Arts Department of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. For more than four decades he was Professor of Sculpture and is now Departmental Head. He recently made the 2023 list of Time’s 100 “Most Influential” people, alongside noteworthy actors, politicians, and personalities. El was honored by the Nigerian art historian Chika Okeke-Agulu, who called him “one of the most impactful artists of our time.”

April’s Inspiration of the Month: Daya Brown

Daya Brown is a name that an increasing number of people are beginning to recognize for her intelligence, dedicated work ethic, and the fact that she was accepted by 54 colleges and received $1.3 million in scholarship offers! Brown is my inspiration for April for all her accomplishments and determination to reach her goals – especially because most of her journey was during unprecedented global uncertainty. As a Freshman at Atlanta, Georgia’s Westlake High School, Brown said she considered becoming a lawyer before being introduced to Westlake Out Loud, a poetry performance group for students. She then realized she wanted to embrace her creativity to empower people and heal the world.

Mickalene Thomas Claims Her Space Within the Frame

There's something really special and different about Mickalene Thomas’s art. An African-American contemporary artist and filmmaker from New Jersey, she studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2000, and later received her Master of Fine Arts from the Yale University School of Art in 2002. Mickalene’s work encompasses a range of mediums, including painting, photography, and video installations. She explores issues of identity, representation, and gender, and draws on popular culture and art history. She is best known for her large-scale paintings that feature complex, multi-layered compositions and include bold patterns, bright colors, and glitter.

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Inspiration

I have always had an insatiable curiosity

What causes me to get out of bed every morning is driven by inspiration. Ever since I was a little boy, I was inspired by my insatiable curiosity, which caused me to be a reader, a thinker, and a dreamer.

I can remember being inspired by seeing Bobby Kennedy on TV and watching videotapes of Martin Luther King Jr., and being deeply saddened by their assassination even though I was only 10 years old when I experienced all of this.

As a little boy, rocket flight was a big thing. I remember being fascinated by the moon and the stars and the astronauts exploring them.As humans we are achieving remarkable things that only a handful of years before were just in the imagination.