Of all the career paths leading to Detroit's auto industry, you might think majoring in ceramics would be an unlikely route. But Trevor Mantkus (Ceramics 2008) is not your average ceramicist.

When he's not at work at General Motors as an automotive sculptor, he spends his spare time drawing, making paintings on commission, designing tattoos, and customizing a 1978 Corvette Stingray. He also customizes superfast motorbikes -- a YouTube video shows him pulling a (don't try this at home) freeway wheelie on a retooled Suzuki streetfighter with an estimated top speed north of 180 mph. His motorcycle designs have been featured in Hot Bike and Sport Bike magazines.

Shortly after being hired at GM he rushed to sign up for classes in digital modeling. "I wanted to be a candidate to do whatever the company needed. Now I move back and forth between digital and clay. There's benefits to both media. Although, obviously, I was a ceramics major, so I like working with my hands, getting dirty, and seeing something come to life in three dimensions."

The seeds of Mantkus's success were sown at CCA. "I've always been into cars, and in the Ceramics Program, I made a motorcycle. In 2007 my professors Nathan Lynch and Arthur Gonzalez came to me with the application for a summer internship at General Motors. They saw this as a good path for me even before I realized it. I knew cars were sculpted out of clay, but I had no idea what was really involved. Thousands of art students from across the country, mostly industrial and automotive design students, applied for 18 internships, and I got in. It was an amazing opportunity to work, to learn, and also to make contacts. One of the guys I met there had an automotive design degree from the San Francisco Art Institute, another was a digital designer from Howard University. It was one of these contacts I made back in 2007 who tipped me off about GM hiring in 2010. I got this job because of that internship."

Mantkus reports that even when he was in school and deep in his major course of study, he was open to the option of going into a field outside the fine arts, possibly working for a corporation. "GM is corporate, sure, but some of the most talented and creative people in the world are working here. At the end of June there's a four-day festival called Detroit River Days, down by the General Motors Renaissance Center. GM has a tent showcasing work by employee and contractor artists. There's also a permanent gallery in the Technical Center with exhibitions that change every month or so, featuring art by people who work here: painting, woodworking, furniture, metal art. The spectrum of creativity is so broad. It's a real community of artists and creative individuals."

Mantkus's many interests, which would eventually coalesce at CCA, were sparked during his years growing up across Los Angeles, Fresno, and Tahoe. In his junior year of high school in Fresno, he took a ceramics class and realized he had a knack for it -- "using my hands to make something out of nothing." When his family moved to Tahoe, his interest in fast vehicles was ignited by the dirt bikes and jet skis sold at his father's motorsports dealership. Then at CCA, he discovered tattoo art. "My friend Lindsey, who was just getting into it, bought some tattoo machines. She asked whether she could give me a tattoo. I said no way, but how about I do one for you. She came up with a design, and I inked it on her ankle. That first one turned out great, and I got into it. I've always drawn daily, so I took that skill and just applied it. At CCA, I found the freedom and the opportunity to incorporate all my interests into my work."