Clarke Central High School senior Calum Cederbaum presents a clay bust at Thomas Street Art Complex on Oct. 16, 2025. Cederbaum was homeschooled until fourth grade and began sculpting with ceramics during that time. “It’s just very easy to go in any direction with (clay),” Cederbaum said. “You can create functional pieces. You can create things for beauty alone. (There’s) such a wide open range of things.” Photo by Iliana Tejada
CCHS senior Calum Cederbaum speaks about her experience sculpting and her fall internship at the University of Georgia.
Variety Staffer Mzée Pavlić: What’s your process when creating sculptures?
Clarke Central High School senior Calum Cederbaum: Usually I take, it depends on how big the project is, about half a week to come up with the idea, figure out how logistically that’s going to work and then come up with a timeline. If there is already a set timeline, how (I’m) going to break up my time. ‘How am I going to separate? Oh, I need to have this feature done by this date.’ So I set (the schedule) all up within the first week, and then (I) really just work away till the deadlines. A lot of the time is actually spent drying, so you have to make sure that that time is added, especially if it’s a bigger piece.
Clarke Central High School senior Calum Cederbaum works on a jewelry piece at the Thomas Street Art Complex on Oct. 16, 2025. Cedarbaum, who also experimented with welding at Athens Community Career Academy, believed that clay is more forgiving than metalwork. “It’s just very easy to go in any direction with (clay),” Cederbaum said. “You can create functional pieces. You can create things for beauty alone. (There’s) such a wide open range of things.” Photo by Iliana Tejada
MP: What’s kept you continuing sculpture all these years?
CC: It was highly encouraged when I was younger (to) find any sort of art form that you like and would like to continue doing. So I tried 2D, I tried music and everything, and this is the one that stuck. It’s always been very easy, shaping clay. With drawing, it’s very much like (if ) you make one mistake, that might have ruined the piece. But with clay, you put something on and (if ) you’re like, ‘Meh, I don’t like that,’ you can just scrape it back off. It’s very forgiving, and I like that.
MP: You said it’s easier to make mistakes and fix those with clay. How do you work through bigger mistakes or things turning out differently than you expected?
CC: Especially working on face sculpture, I had so much trouble with actually shaping the lips. You’ll watch tutorials, that’s a (big) thing if you don’t know what you’re doing, I would watch a tutorial, but of course, sometimes they don’t cover actually doing it on a sculpture, so you have to figure out how to fit everything together (through) trial and error. Then, just not being afraid to start over completely and scrape off the entire bottom half of her face and just redo it. I think I had to do (that) like five different times.
MP: Has your skill developed during your internship?
CC: I had never done a bust before. It was something completely new, and I started out and had to scrap it completely just because it wasn’t turning out how I wanted. I’ve grown (with) problem solving. (That) would be the main thing overall, because it’s very difficult to figure out how things actually fit together in a face, even though you see them every day. So it’s taking little portions of a bigger picture and focusing on it until it turns out how you want it, and then making sure that fits with the overall sculpture.
University of Georgia Art Studio Technician Haley Huebner (left) stands next to Clarke Central High School senior Calum Cederbaum (right) at Thomas Street Art Complex on Oct. 16, 2025. Cederbaum has interned with Huebner since the start of the 2025-26 school year. “(Huebner) has a (Bachelor of Arts) in ceramics, and so anytime I’m struggling with something, she’ll come over,” Cederbaum said. “She’s had experience actually creating a bust, so she’ll give me pointers and information that I should consider.” Photo by Iliana Tejada
MP: With the range of areas of sculpture at the University of Georgia, how are the opportunities different from CCHS’?
CC: (UGA has) a lot more specifics. (CCHS students) have ceramics, which is just clay, and then we have sculpture, which is like every other medium, and then you can go over to (Athens Community) Career (Academy for welding), but I don’t think a lot of people know about that. Over at UGA, everything’s in one place. They have different kinds of jewelry making. They have enameling classes. They have woodworking, metal, pretty much anything you could think of. (I feel like) there’s a class for everything.
I’ve grown (with) problem solving. (That) would be the main thing overall, because it’s very difficult to figure out how things actually fit together in a face, even though you see them every day.
MP: Are there any projects beyond the bust you’re doing?
CC: I think (the bust) might take most of our time, but any leftover time, we are going to use to really hone in on different features and getting practice. But the sculpting is only half of my internship, and the other half is working on machines and fixing them with my mentor, because she’s a studio tech. So anything that breaks in any of the studios, it’s her job to go in and fix them. So that should also take up some time.
