Gabi was born in New York City. Growing up, she also lived in Puerto Rico and San Francisco and other places in California. In college she studied drawing and painting, film, video and animation. She completed her bachelor’s degree at The Evergreen State College and a master’s degree in counseling at Saint Martin’s College. She retired as a counselor in September 2022.
She is an artist, a web and graphic designer, and an editor. She is a non-theist Quaker and an activist and community leader who has had a lifelong involvement in working for peace and social justice.
The Claytons met in New York City in 1973 where they worked for Everything for Everybody, a service organization that, among other things, published an alternative newspaper. In ’77 they moved to Alec’s hometown, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and co-founded a publishing company that published, in succession, a weekly newspaper, a monthly magazine, and the award-winning art and literary journal Mississippi Arts & Letters.
They moved to Olympia, Washington in 1988 and started doing web design and graphic arts in 1996. They started Mud Flat Press (first named ClaytonWorks Publishing) when publishing Alec’s first novel, Until the Dawn in 2000.
Alec is a novelist, freelance writer, and retired artist who grew up in Mississippi. He writes theater and art review columns and feature stories for Oly Arts (Olympia, WA). He worked as a features editor and theatre critic for The News Tribune, and as a writer and copy editor for the Weekly Volcano. He has been published in many other periodicals including The Olympian, Thurston Talk, Art Access, Art Papers, Fiber Arts, and Glass Quarterly. Alec’s paintings have been shown in museums and galleries throughout the United States and even once in Korea. He has a master’s degree in drawing and painting from East Tennessee State University.