Clara Weaver Parrish

Clara Minter Parrish ( Weaver; March 16, 1861 – November 11, 1925) was an American artist from Alabama. Although she produced a large amount of work in a wide array of media, she is best known for her paintings and stained glass window designs. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame in 1983.

Early life Tiffany windows designed by Parrish circa 1890s for St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Selma.

Clara Minter Weaver was born at the Minter family's Dallas County plantation, Emerald Place, near Sardis (southeast of Selma), on March 16, 1861. Her parents were William M. Weaver and Lucia Frances Minter, both from locally prominent families. Her paternal grandparents were Phillip J. Weaver and Ann P. Gardner. Her maternal grandparents were William T. Minter and Susan A. Bell.

William and Lucia Weaver cultivated their daughter's talent in the arts. She excelled in her artistic endeavors and was sent in the early 1880s to study at the Art Students League of New York. She was taught by the likes of William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, Henry Siddons Mowbray, and Julian Alden Weir.

During this time she frequently returned to Selma, where she met her future husband, William Peck Parrish, a native of nearby Greensboro. They were married in October 1889 in Selma. During the 1890s, she also began promoting women artists while serving as an officer in the Woman's Art Club of New York.

The couple eventually had two daughters, both of whom died very young. Following the death of one of these children she developed an interest in mosaic, mural, and stained glass design. Gielow, another Alabama native, was known for her slave narratives and children's stories.

Parrish's husband died from a heart attack while on a train from Washington, D.C., to their home in New York on April 29, 1901. This left her a widow at age forty.

Her will established the Weaver-Parrish Memorial Trust, which provides aid to the needy of Selma and Dallas County to the present day. It also provides a college scholarship every other year to a graduate of Selma High School.