C.W. Conner

Mr. C.W. (Claude W.) Conner was born Oct. 21, 1939, in Walton County. He died Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020, at his home in Ellijay. He spent much of his early childhood in the rural south among the simple joys of a way of life now forgotten. His family moved to Marietta, near Atlanta, in 1943, so that his father could find work. 

As a boy and later as a teenager, his ambition to become an artist grew. As a young man, his desire to pursue a career in art was put on hold because of the need to earn a living. So, he applied his native artistic talents outside the art world as a draftsman and in the building trades. He had extensive experience in home design, building and landscape design. Even though he did not have any formal art instruction, over the years he continued to experiment with materials that were available to him to develop an original artistic style of his own.

His art reflects his humble beginnings in the rural American south and his adult life experience in the “big city.” 

His unique painting method used found objects and materials like old barn wood, tin roofing material and various types of house paints along with more traditional art materials. His women’s faces, figures, roosters and scenes of country folk going about their everyday chores and enjoying life’s little pleasures have become his trademarks.  His carved walking sticks are legendary.

He lived his life on his own terms and said he had done everything he wanted to do.

He is preceded in death by parents, Claude Herschel Conner and Sallie Brown Conner.  

He is survived by loving sister and brother-in-law, Janelle Conner Miller and Hugh; nephews and their wives, Kent Miller and,Selma, Curt Miller and Elizabeth, Stan Miller and Patti Waller; and niece and her husband, Zana Miller Ireland and A.J., his daughter and her husband, Cherie and Mark Countz and their children; many grandnieces and grandnephews; and countless friends and neighbors.

All services are private.