There are dual sides to 18-year-old Matt Young and he knows it. There’s a playful, creative side that comes out in his art. And then there’s the kid who doesn’t plan on going to college, but rather, into the workforce. The kid who digs trucks and engines.

“I like art a lot,” he said. “I see it as an expressive form. It’s a way to get my mind off other stuff.”

Two years ago, Matt took a metal sculpture class and while everyone else chose to make flat designs out of sheet metal, he decided to make 3-D characters from the movie Minions.

”I thought I’d take this hard material and make this soft, loveable creature,” he said. His mother has claimed the Minions pieces, but he’s had requests from classmates to make more.

Engines and anything on wheels are what spurs Matt’s artistic interests. He recently made a clay prototype of a Honda CX500, the kind his father owns. “I’ve been riding on motorcycles since I was about 3 years old,” he said. “My dad used to take bungee cords and strap my sisters and me to him, because we used to fall asleep on the back.”

“I love sketching,” he said. “Since I was 4 years old, I’ve been sketching tractor trailers.”

He’ll take a sketchbook and draw trucks for hours with pencils, working on the shading. “My father used to be a long haul trucker. He used to come home and draw rough sketches of them, which got me into it,” he said.

Matt sees himself getting his commercial driver’s license and following his father’s initial career into long haul trucking as well. “I don’t plan on going to college,” he said. “I see a need for further education as far as practical stuff, but I don’t see going to college for philosophy or advanced English. I might go to technical school, instead.

“Motocross and engines are basically what I center my life around,” he said. “I just love working around machines and I could see the drawing coming into it as a mechanical engineer or a car designer some day.”

Hail to the Rad Kids is a recurring feature highlighting teens with artistic and/or musical talent. 

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot