Clarence Durham studied at the Denver Art Academy, the Corey School of Art (Denver), and the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Denver with teachers Clarence Van Deusen, Henry Read, and Robert Graham. Oil on canvas remained his preferred medium, although he worked in a number of others. He served four terms as president of the Denver Artists Guild, marrying Mildred Flieger in 1924.
In 1927 he began his forty-three year career with Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company (successively known as Mountain Bell, U S West and then Qwest). Initially a display artist, he advanced to art director and finally to art supervisor of the company's public relations department. In 1948 his painting, Telephone Line Construction on Loveland Pass, was featured on the cover of Monitor, the telephone company's mountain region magazine, and later hung in AT & T Board Room in New York.
In the early 1950s Durham volunteered as an instructor for disabled World War II veterans at Fitzsimmons General Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, and continued teaching in community programs in his retirement. Other Denver Artists Guild members participating in Fitzsimmons program included Beulah Beardsley, Marion Buchan, Gladys Caldwell Fisher, Vance Kirkland, Louise Ronnebeck, Allen True and Alfred Wands.
Durham created a wood block mural for the USO Lounge at Denver's Union Station, and in 1960 designed, constructed and installed a display at NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Headquarters under Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs. In 1972 his design for the Bicentennial Medal received an award from the Franklin Mint, and thirteen years later his was commissioned to paint a large mural, Directional Drilling, for the Hunt Family Executive Office in the Thanksgiving Tower in Dallas, Texas.
During his career he received a number of awards from the Advertising Club of Denver: First Award-Packaging and Containers (1964), Silver Award-Telephone Gift Carton Design (1965); and from the Art Directors' Club of Denver: Distinctive Merit Award-Packaging and Containers (1965), First Place Nike Award (1967).
He exhibited in group and solo shows at various Colorado venues, including Chappell House, Denver; Denver Art Museum; Allied Artists, Denver; Museum of Natural History (Museum of Nature and Science), Denver; Colorado History Museum, Denver; Denver Public Library, Western History Department; Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, Denver; Teller House and the Gilpin County Arts Association, Central City; Broadmoor Hotel and Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Western State College, Gunnison.
Collections: Western History Department-Denver Public Library; Pioneer Museum, Golden, CO; Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver.
© Stan Cuba for David Cook Galleries