Clark's activist career began in 1909, when she and 18 other women, including Nora Houston,
Ellen Glasgow,
Lila Meade Valentine,
Kate Waller Barrett, and
Mary Johnston, founded the
Equal Suffrage League of Virginia; she served as its secretary for one year, and also as a committee chair and head of the group's lobby in the
Virginia General Assembly. Clark and Nora Houston would set up also set up their easels at the corner of Fifth and Broad Streets in downtown Richmond to share their "street corner sketches"—chalk drawings on rolls of paper that illustrated their oratory. "Lots of people made speeches, but we were the only ones sketching, and that really drew crowds," Clark once remembered. During their
chalk talks, Clark and Houston spoke about women's suffrage and handed out leaflets to people who approached. When the Art Club of Richmond dissolved in 1917, Clark and Houston opened a studio together. The professional space became known as the "Atelier," and its class offerings—including art history, painting, and drawing—fostered the talents of a new generation of artists, including the painter
Theresa Pollak. Clark and Houston continued to be involved in the interracial movement after this election.
Government and educational positions Clark also held positions in a number of government and educational bodies, including secretary of Governor
E. Lee Trinkle's Commission on the Simplification of State and Local Government and of Governor
Harry F. Byrd's Liberal Arts College for Women Commission, and dean of women at the
College of William and Mary. She was on the
Virginia Arts Commission from 1941 to 1964, having helped establish it in 1916. Clark, who also put her campaign for women's suffrage into her artistic work, . ==Personal life==