Born in San Francisco and raised in Marin County, Clem McCarthy has always been involved in art. He attended San Jose State University and Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he studied art and design. He subsequently spent a career as an art director and creative director with advertising agencies in San Francisco, Detroit, Philadelphia and New York, during which time he continued to paint. (Half of his NYC apartment served as his studio, prompting his wife to exult, "Ah, the smell of turpentine in the morning!") While on the East Coast, he was represented by Agora Gallery in Manhattan and Main Street Gallery in Nantucket. Now back in the Bay Area, Clem is painting full time in his studio in Sausalito.