Brian Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancaster, England. In 1965 on a Junior Scholarship, Clarke attended the Oldham School of Arts and Crafts. He then went on in 1968 to Burnley School of Art. In 1970 he enrolled at The North Devon College of Art and Design where he went on to receive a first class distinction in Diploma in Art and Design.
In 1974 he was awarded the Winston Churchill Memorial Travelling Fellowship to study art and architecture in Rome, Paris, and Germany. The second part of the Fellowship was spent in Los Angeles and New York. He is now a trustee of that institution.
Although working primarily in art in architecture, Clarke's paintings, stained glass, mosaic and tapestry works can be found in architectural settings and private and public collections.