A schoolboy is to get a second chance of an exhibition to showcase his artistic talent after an earlier event was shelved because of Covid-19.

Freda Trimm, a teacher at Paget Primary School, had hoped to hold an exhibition in April, Autism Awareness Month, to highlight the work of Rico Lambert, 12, a pupil in the school’s autism spectrum disorder multigrade class, at Bermuda College before he moved on to middle school, but was forced to cancel. But now she is working on an exhibition at the college for next month or October.

Ms Trimm, who has taught Rico for the past five years, said: “I think he has the potential to be a famous artist one day — his work could be on the big screen. Myself and Paget Primary School art teacher Louisa Birmingham want to showcase his work — it might be virtual — but we would still like to utilise Bermuda College for small gatherings.”

Rico, who featured in The Royal Gazette two years ago after his first solo show, which was displayed in Washington Mall, Hamilton, and at the Clocktower Mall in Dockyard, is due to move to middle school in September.

Ms Trimm said: “We are still waiting for confirmation but are hoping we can do something in September or October.”

Rico is leaving primary school and moving up to middle school in September, and it was Ms Trimm’s wish to honour him before he left.

She added: “He has so much talent. We shouldn’t just recognise students on the autism spectrum just in April, we should recognise them every day. A diagnosis doesn’t mean he is not capable — he is very capable.

“Rico deserves to be given a scholarship for students with exceptionalities.”

Rico has problems with verbal communication, but his father, Rupert Lambert, said he had always been able to express himself through art.

Mr Lambert said: “Rico has loved art since we first put a crayon in his hand.”

“From the age of about three years old, that is how he would express things to us because he wasn’t talking then.

“We figured out what he wanted through his drawings.

“Rico didn’t really take to being around crowds or meeting new people, but at his first exhibition he opened up.

“People bought some of his art work and he was happy to pose with them. That experience opened him up and made him more social.”

Rico added: “I like to draw because it makes me happy. I want to be an artist when I grow up.”