As a single mother, visual artists, pattern/costume maker, writer, poet, incessant learner and community activist Clottee Hammons has gained numerous first-hand experiences through balancing multiple jobs in Corporate America, the Arts and nonprofit organizations that focused on behavioral health, the unhoused and others at risk. For over 25 years she has independently organized and curated Art exhibitions in Phoenix that would never have taken place had she not been the driving factor. If not for her drive and commitment many outstanding artists would not have the opportunity to have their works seen or purchased.
Despite the lack of support from local grant-making agencies she has successfully created musical, literary and history events that are open to the public and are often free of charge. Her ongoing and expanding “Great Migration – Indiscernibles in Arizona” project brings into focus the little known history of how Black people came to Arizona with a trajectory into modern day. The project has many branches such as a Blues CD (featuring Arizona’s King of the Blues, Big Pete Pearson and Scotty Spenner), a Great Migration exhibition installed at Heritage Square, the anthology “Indiscernibles in Arizona/On the hope and reality of being Black in Arizona”, workshops online and in-person and “The Soul of The Great Migration” music event that features local Black artists. As a lone Black woman with a vision, often uncomfortable explorations have yielded collaborations that have provided Clottee with longstanding friendships that give her the strength to “KEEP ON PUSHING”.