Renowned sculptor Chesley Trott and his students will be featured in the Masterworks Foundation Artists Up Front Street show tomorrow evening.

Mr. Trott is no stranger to the exhibition scene, as he first displayed his work 35 years ago with Bermudian artist Chris Lloyd Tucker, who was famous both on the Island and in international circles. He was also the first artist to exhibit works in the Artists Up Front series, which began in 1995.

The retired high school art teacher, who said his passions are teaching and art, wanted to share the stage with his current and former students this time around.

Mr. Trott said he originally started offering classes for seniors but his popularity grew steadily and now he has students ranging in age from 20 to 79.

The sculptor and some of his students recently travelled to San Miguel, Mexico, to study the art of bronzes.

?It is a small Mexican town and they have two art schools, many art galleries and it is art, art, art,? Mr. Trott said. ?So anyone interested in art usually ends up in San Miguel.?

Always the teacher, Mr. Trott is proud of the achievements of the students who will be featured tomorrow on Front Street.

?I have one student, Suzanne J. Miller, who had a piece accepted for the Biennial this year and she had been accepted before,? he said. ?She has a very high standard of work.

?And then I have Loraine Lucas who is also very good.

?So I think it should be quite a nice little show. Edna Lorhan will also be exhibiting several pieces. Aramynta West Harron will just have one piece. Jeanie Seward McGee will also be putting in a sculpture.

?Some students are exhibiting up to five pieces and others are exhibiting single pieces. And I?ll probably put in about two or three myself.?

The show will feature mostly new works, he said, but Ms Miller is putting in the piece she had in the Biennial Exhibition.

?She wanted to show a progression of when she started up until now,? Mr. Trott said. ?To show how she has progressed. So I am allowing them decide what they want to put in ? up to a certain point.?

The power of any piece of sculpture lies first and foremost in the idea, he said.

?The first and most important thing is the concept and that is really the hardest thing, the rest of it is mechanical ? and that is really easy to teach,? said Mr. Trott.

?In the beginning they get ideas from my sculptures or from other students? works and, then in time, I encourage them to explore their own feelings and concepts.?

Mr. Trott is currently working on a large sculpture in cedar for the Masterworks Collection and he recently finished an eight-foot piece, which is now on display at the Bermuda International Airport.

At the top of his craft, Mr. Trott believes it is important for students to consistently exhibit their works as they develop artistically.

?It kind of gives you that feeling that someone else likes it, besides me, and enough to put out some money for it,? he said. ?It kind of gives you the encouragement to exhibit more.?

The sculptor himself followed a pattern of showing regularly as he developed.

When asked when he first exhibited his work, he laughed and said: ?Oh good grief!?

?You know Charles Lloyd Tucker?? Mr. Trott said. ?When I started he was one of the most well known black artists in Bermuda. I showed him some of my sculptures and he suggested we have an exhibition together.

?That was in 1969 and I got nice write-ups. And to exhibit with Mr. Tucker! I mean he was well known here and abroad.

?That encouraged me to exhibit more, but my first main exhibition was with him. So that?s where I started off.?

Mr. Trott has also taught art within the prison system since 1970.

He currently teaches at Westgate Correctional Facility twice a week. He said many of his students there are so talented, he tells them that there is no need to steal with the talents they possess.

The affection Mr. Trott feels for his students is reflected back on him tenfold.

Student Suzanne Miller said she began studying with Mr. Trott in 1994 and enjoys the creative freedom she has with him.

She first met Mr. Trott when she attempted to join one of his classes which had been cancelled.

?I called him personally. I said I?d pay anything just let me come out and he offered me a position in his private group,? she said. ?At that time he had two evening classes and I joined them and I haven?t looked back since.?

Ms Miller said she had lived in Hamburg and England for many years and, during that time, she explored many different art forms, but did not have the opportunity to do wood sculpting.

?For someone who didn?t have an academic background the opportunity to do it was very slim,? said Ms Miller.

?So, I was absolutely delighted to join Chesley ? it has been a wonderful experience.

?The whole idea was wood sculpting ? I had done life drawing classes, ceramics, porcelain painting, water colours, but I had always wanted to do wood sculpting and that was not an easy thing to do.

?We are very fortunate in Bermuda to have these outlets.?

Having had pieces accepted into the Bacardi Biennial this year and in 1998, she has found some success in her new favoured medium.

She works with any wood that she can find and often finds inspiration in the female figure.

?The form is very soft and so, I guess you can define it as being a semi-abstract, figurative form,? she said.

?I particularly like the Biennials because they bring in the overseas jurors where you can get some sound feedback from someone outside the community. Most of the time they are very experienced jurors, who travel around the world and do the Biennial shows.?

But Mr. Trott?s guidance as her mentor has been invaluable.

?He is a very gentle person who lets you create and brings his opinions in at the right moment, and guides you in the right direction without dictating,? she said. ?That is very important so you can reach your full potential.

?Some teachers limit what you can do or show you a certain style and you are doing more copy art than creating from your own soul or creative process.

?He has a very special way and touch, he has patience and he is very creative and is just wonderful to be with him.

?We meet every week as we have done for years.?

For Ms Miller the process of creating is as fulfilling as the finished product.

?The time that just disappears while you are involved in the process of creating and this is where it is like the music for your soul,? she said.

?You are oblivious to time. It just lets you. Your mind flows and your hands create and you get you ideas.

?Sometimes you start with a sketch and sometimes you don?t. Although, he certainly encourages us all to just do it and not to have your drawings and fixed ideas.

?Let things evolve. It is a process. It is like a wonderful feeling inside and you are almost onto the next one and your mind is thinking.?

And she is pleased with her progress over ten years of working with Mr. Trott whom she considers both friend and mentor.

?I have come a long was since I started in 1994,? she said. ?Certainly I have a feeling for the wood and a practical sense of dealing with the wood.

?But he has been able to challenge us all in our creativity, to guide us to finish something ? he doesn?t own the pieces that we do ? he lets us create it.

?It is a very special moment when he?ll look at you and he doesn?t say much, and as you are working away with your gouge and your mallet, then he?ll look at you and say, ?Ms Miller shall we just have a look at that?.

?Then I?ll say yeah it is too busy and too many elements in here. Too many bumps and he says, ?Yeah?.

?This is what happens and then you realise yourself what is happening and then you realise for yourself. You eliminate something.

?This is his way of helping you to get your form and to get your sculpture flowing so that it is in the round and you are creating something that is very aesthetic and has artistic merit.

?Certainly, he is there for the technical side but, for the creative side, he steps back and allows you to do it yourself unless he sees it going a little bit wrong.

?It is very stimulating and motivating and he never stops you in your tracks and tells you how terribly wrong the piece is.

?He lets you see it yourself. He is a very strong, yet sensitive person.

?It has been a wonderful journey.?