Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu began her teaching career in the mission schools in 1945. She received a scholarship from the colonial administration to study at the Chelsea School of Art in London where she earned a National Diploma in Design, and a distinction in fine art painting in 1954. This was followed one year later by an Art Teachers Diploma which she received from the Institute of education from the University of London.
Returning to Nigeria she took a teaching position at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology. A position she held from 1955 to 1964, and at that time she was the first woman and first Nigerian with academic credentials to teach at the college.
In 1959 she received a Ford Foundation Fellowship which she applied to accepting a lecture position at the Institute of Education at the University of Ibadan.
Ugbodaga-Ngu's painting style as well as her teaching practices brought an awareness of Modernism to Nigeria while incorporating motifs and imagery from the art practices of many of Nigeria's diverse cultural backgrounds. Just a few of the many students who studied with her were Solomon Wangboje, Uche Okeke, Simon Okeke, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Timothy Adebanjo Fasuyi, Uche Okeke, Yusef Grillo, Demas Nwoko, and William Olaosebikan. Many of these students were part of the Zaria Art Society.
