Ted Clayton is a welder. He doesn’t consider himself an artist. But sneak out behind the building where he works, and one might wonder why not.

Clayton has been Beaufort County Community College’s welding instructor for the past 18 years, but for the last six or seven of them, he’s put his own skills, and those of his students, to test with the creation of a 5,000-pound metal sculpture.

An eagle swoops down to a nest — eaglets tucked inside — that sits atop pilings. A school of fish circle the base of the pilings; a heron takes flight from the other side. It’s truly a work of art, one that has slowly come together over several years and many students.

“Nobody knew what I was doing — I just said I wanted to build something that represented North Carolina,” Clayton said. “I kind of had it hid in there for a long time.”

No longer: currently, the sculpture sit outside of the welding workshop; the plan is to find it a permanent home on campus, dedication of which will be part of the college’s 50^th anniversary. Clayton has said he’d love to see it downtown on the Washington waterfront, near the North Carolina Estuarium.

“It would be a great recruiting piece,” Clayton said.

Clayton didn’t have to do much recruiting to find students willing to work on the sculpture. Over the years, they worked on it between and after classes; his high school students rolled the “ropes,” made of hollow metal tubing, that wrap the pilings; another student, Michael Dunn, dedicated his time to the many fish circling the base.

“It’s a team effort,” Clayton said. “So many have worked on it through the years.”

Those who’ve contributed to the sculpture’s creation include local businesses, according to Clayton. Among others, Flanders Filters donated some material that otherwise may have been scrap; PotashCorp-Aurora, the enormous metal pipes, Clayton said.

According to BCCC public relations coordinator Attila Nemecz, welding students have gotten a lot out of working on projects such as the statue and another 7-foot tall, peg-legged, skeletal pirate complete with sword, that has taken up residence in the welding shop.

“They sign up to learn a skill, but they end up with this creative outlet,” Nemecz said.

Clayton said he’s very proud of the project, and regardless of where the sculpture, he has many ideas for future projects that he’d love to see on permanent, public display on the waterfront.