Clay was born and raised in the Bitterroot Valley, Western Montana. Son of poets Marnie Prange and Greg Pape, Clay recently graduated with a BFA in painting and drawing from the University of Montana in 2013.

Clay’s entrance into the art world was marked by a deep-seeded urge to translate his evolving understanding of the surrounding landscape into objects of art. Beginning with expressive representations of the Western Montana Landscape, Clay began to
move away from representation and traditional media towards motions and materials that spoke more directly of not only the beauty of this region but of the conflicted relationship between the natural and non-natural within it. The landscape in Clay’s art
went from representations made of pastel and acrylic to abstracted and reduced collages of tar, concrete, and ash. These typically large-scale paintings began midway through Clay’s college experience and have evolved to include such
materials as joint compound, wood glue, sand, asphalt, tar, glass, insulation foam, resin, etc.

As his approach to material and subject evolved so too did Clay’s concern for and awareness of climate change and the intellectual and creative challenges that follow. Upon receiving a Watson scholarship his senior year at UM, Clay began researching
environmental art of the past five decades, focusing on the social and political aspects of recent eco-art theory and practice. This line of inquiry continues to inform Clay’s painting as well as his performance art and other ongoing projects.
Clay has been in several major group exhibitions as well as in multiple solo exhibitions. His work has frequently been included in the Missoula Art Museum Benefit Auction and can often be found in annual exhibitions at Dana Gallery, including Icons of the West National Juried Exhibition and Young Guns. Pape now lives in Austin, Texas with his wife.