About the Artist

Claude and family migrated from the tropical paradise island of Haiti to the United  States in 1972.  He completed High School in three years while acquiring English  as a third language, he was already fluent in Creole and French. He has  since become fluent  in Spanish, and currently learning Chinese and  Japanese simultaneously. He is an avid fan of foreign films and a  filmmaker in his own right. So far he  has edited and produced many  short films and three award wining documentaries: Brother Joseph, Mother  Josephine, and Changchun Street.

The Olympic year of 1976 found Claude in the  beautiful city of Montreal, Canada where he studied at the School of  Modern Photography. After a short stint as a newspaper photographer in  Brooklyn, New York, Claude headed West to Texas and became a welder at a  manufacturer of offshore drilling rigs. While attending university in  the day he worked at night for Johnson & Johnson where he learned  how to make needles that were used in eye surgery. In 1988 he graduated  with a Bachelor's degree of Fine Art from Angelo State University. After  a two-year visit to Europe and a three-month excursion in the Middle  East desert, El Paso became a welcoming paradise. Similar to the  tropical warmth of the Caribbean, with the bonus of endless days of  sunshine and low rain fall, it is an ideal location for plein-air  stone  carving and art in general.