Clayton Bailey (1939–2020) was a ceramic and mixed-media artist whose eccentric sculptures, performances and inventions made him a leading figure in Northern California Funk and Nut Art. Born in Antigo, Wisconsin, Bailey earned a B.S. in art education in 1961 and an M.S. in art and art education in 1962 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where his study of ceramics encouraged his interest in humor, experimentation and unconventional forms. Bailey created ceramic face jugs, fantastical creatures, robots, ray guns, pseudo-fossils and other objects that blurred distinctions among sculpture, craft, popular culture and performance. In the early 1970s, he developed the alter ego Dr. George Gladstone, a fictional scientist and archaeologist who presented fabricated discoveries—including Bigfoot remains and other improbable artifacts—as part of Bailey’s Wonders of the World. In 1967, Robert Arneson invited Bailey to teach ceramics classes at the University of California, Davis, while Arneson was on sabbatical. Bailey subsequently taught at California State University, Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) from 1968 to 1996.