The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

IT ALL started with a science project for school. Working with clay to complete the assignment awakened in the then 12-year-old Clayton Miller a passion for the medium which he has been pursuing ever since.

He discovered he had a talent for it, and now, two years later, the teenage artist is about to open his very own exhibition featuring 18 of his sculptures.

Clayton, who celebrated his 14th birthday last week, said he is excited for the exhibition, which he is calling “Family Time”.

The show will open this Friday in the Flamingo Room at Comfort Suites from 6pm-9pm. 

Clayton told Tribune Arts and Entertainment that he basically stumbled into a craft, but has seriously cultivated it ever since.

“About two years ago I started sculpting after using clay for a school science project. Everyone who saw the project told me how good it looked. I kept playing around with the extra clay, and have not been without some kind of clay since then,” he said. 

Many of Clayton’s hand-sculpted pieces that he made when he first started working with clay will be displayed during the show. They include animal sculptures such as a turtle, shark, elephant and many more.  

“A minimum of 18 pieces will be on display. I am finishing some additional pieces, but working with clay requires a certain process that just can not be rushed, so I cannot count them in yet,” he said.

For Clayton, like for many others, art is like therapy. It gives him an outlet to express his deepest thoughts, perspectives and emotions on certain issues. It also provides him with an escape from everyday life into another world.

“I love it because it is very relaxing. If I get mad or frustrated, I go and sculpt something and I feel better. I also love how people always comment on my work and are so amazed when they see one of my finished pieces. It’s like they cannot believe that I actually made it,” he said.

Clayton said it is surreal for him to think back on how he first started sculpting and how he is now hosting his first exhibit.

“I hope when people see my work they are inspired to go and try something that they always wanted to do, especially young people. I want them to say, ‘Wow, a teenager made that’,” he told Tribune Arts and Entertainment. 

Clayton is currently in the 10th grade at St Anne’s School, the home of the Mighty Blue Waves.

After finishing high school he hopes to go on to become a professional sculptor and a veterinarian.