Samantha Weber (left), a 16-year-old artist, shows students at Alvaton Elementary School how to make colorful jewelry Monday during their art class. Photo by Joe Imel

With wide eyes, the fifth- and six-graders crowded around Samantha Weber as she transformed chunks of polymer clay into stars, checkerboards and swirl-designed beads. When she brought out the big guns glow-in-the-dark clay a collective oooh went through the Alvaton Elementary School art room. I like the star because it (will) make me dream about it, gushed Sarah Sodoma, the daughter of Renee and Steve Sodoma of Alvaton. Blake Llewellyn was just as excited. Usually we dont have this kind of clay, the son of Lisa and Mike Llewellyn of Alvaton emphasized. Samantha had brought such fun to the children thanks to a grant that placed her as artist-in-residence at the school. She last year taught jewelrymaking at Natcher Elementary and Cumberland Trace Elementary schools through a similar grant. Warren County schools art teacher Kim Narramore, who teaches at the three schools, nominated Samantha for the grants after she met the then-15-year-old jewelrymaker at a Kentucky Arts Council meeting. I thought the kids would like it, she said of Samanthas work. I thought, This is something they can relate to. … The fact that shes young and already an artist I thought that would be inspirational for them. Narramore is not the only one who thinks Samantha has talent. Samantha, the daughter of Kenny and Loretta Weber of Glasgow, is the youngest member of Kentucky Crafted: The Market, a large art exhibit that shows in Louisville. She was last year featured in Arts Across Kentucky magazine for receiving the Goddess of Lobe Award Booth Scholarship, an honor that gave her enough funds to set up at The Market. In May, Samantha was one of only 28 artists who showed their work at the Kentucky Derby Breakfast exhibit on the lawn of the state capitol in Frankfort. When Samantha was 15, her work was juried into the Kentucky Art and Craft Foundation, an organization that only accepts members who have tax numbers for business. I have sold some of my work, Samantha said Monday. Her business is aptly named Sams Bead Shop. During the past year Samantha has made nearly 1,000 pieces of jewelry, she said, and priced the works between $6 for a pair of silver earrings and $90 for a more-elaborate silver necklace. But she doesnt just make the jewelry for money. I like sparkle and color, she emphasized. She also likes teaching other people her craft. Last month she taught a jewelry-making course for adults at the Kentucky Arts Foundation, the agency that assigns art grants for the state. Teaching classes is like being in art class all day long, she said. Its a little kids dream. The teaching doesnt interfere with Samanthas school work because she is home-schooled by her parents. Her mother, a potter, is her art teacher, as is a man in Corbin who is teaching Samantha to create fine jewelry. Loretta Weber thinks the artwork has made her daughter more confident. So many parents have to deal with a lot of problems, Loretta Weber said. Its given her something to direct her energy toward. She can interact with other kids and make money at a young age. If you can make something that makes you feel good, thats a good thing. Samantha said her mom is her main inspiration. Shes my inspiration, my biggest fan, my worst critic and my agent, she said with a smile. Thats a good thing. Samantha makes her jewelry early in the morning, before she starts her school work, or late in the evenings, after she gets off work at her fathers music-instrument store, where she runs the cash register and helps customers. She said time spent making jewelry is always a treat. Samantha has her own convection oven, which she uses strictly to bake her beads, as well as several other kitchen tools she uses just to help her create. She also has an assistant in her friend Christina Mitzo, who she taught to make jewelry so the work would go faster. Well get together and make a night of it, said Samantha, who taught herself to make jewelry by studying books. Samantha hopes someday to be a professional jeweler, to work with gold, platinum and precious stones, such as diamonds. I might always change my mind, she said. Ive got a few years, I guess.