How do you go from illicit sketching on coffin bottoms to having a one-man show in the gallery of one of Bermuda's premier reinsurance companies? If the name is Al Seymour, you keep perfecting your natural talent every day of your life, even while you go through various metamorphoses as a teacher, broadcaster, journalist, writer, cartoonist and columnist.

Yes, and even while you raise two artistic children -- Al Seymour, Jr. and Lisa, both of whom have inherited their father's creative genes.

From the age of ten, Mr. Seymour has had an overwhelming compulsion to draw.

As a student at Central School, teachers had no trouble identifying his exercise books -- they were the ones covered in sketches.

So good was his work, in fact, that each Christmas he drew a Santa Claus and Christmas tree on every blackboard.

"I used to dread Christmas,'' he quips.

In addition, the young student painted a watercolour which so impressed headmaster Mr. Victor Scott that to this day it remains in the home of his widow, Edna Mae.

Later, whilst working in the carpentry shop of the Cecil W. Frith funeral home, the teenager swapped paper for wood, drawing incessantly on the bottoms of coffins.

"White pine was just right for drawing,'' the artist recalls, "but it turned out I was drawing on the wrong side! One day, while a coffin was being lifted down the steps of St. Paul AME Church, relatives spotted the drawings underneath and were not pleased, so Mr. Frith -- who was like a surrogate father to me -- sent word via the shop foreman: `Tell that boy not to draw on the coffins any more,' after which I drew on the insides!'' More seriously, the irrepressible budding artist successfully negotiated sponsorship for nine weeks of art courses in the old Hamilton Hotel building with such instructors as the late Byllee Lang, sculptor of the 12 apostles featured behind the Anglican Cathedral altar.

Correspondence courses from the Washington School of Art followed, during which Mr. Seymour's work earned awards and inclusion in the internationally-distributed house magazine.

"I did a drawing of an aircraft carrier from the Strategic Air Command which got a lot of compliments as well,'' he notes.

It was now time to get a full-time job, and both the Sandys Secondary and Robert Crawford Schools welcomed him as their art teacher, a post he happily filled until one day a gentleman walked into his classroom and made him an offer he couldn't refuse: could he join the broadcasting company he was starting up? "I was always interested in broadcasting, it fascinated me, so that ended my art teaching career,'' Mr. Seymour relates.

Thus did one of the most attractive voices in local broadcasting, renowned for its rich, deep tones and silky-smooth delivery, become a household friend.

In what would become a lifetime pattern, Mr. Seymour did not simply swap one interest for another, however. Instead, he simply added broadcasting as another string to his multi-talented bow.

In time, Mr. Seymour switched careers again, this time joining The Royal Gazette as a journalist, where he was encouraged to further develop his talents through scholarship studies in advanced journalism in South Wales.

Later, he would spend two years producing a newspaper for the hotel industry before returning once more to broadcasting, where his sketches of court proceedings became a feature of TV newscasts.

"Throughout all of my career moves I never stopped loving art,'' he assures.

In fact, he has continued to produce paintings and drawings for pleasure, and his work is well known on the local art circuit, where he has exhibited in the Masterworks Artists Up Front Street series, and also at the Bermuda Society of Arts.

Mr. Seymour also has a regular, self-illustrated column in The Bermuda Sun, and a cartoon strip, Codfish and Potatoes, in The Bermudian magazine.

He captures whatever subject takes his fancy; watercolours are his favourite medium, and tonight will see the fulfillment of any artist's dream: having a one-man show.

Like so many events in his life, the ACE Foundation's Atrium Gallery exhibition evolved through recognition of Mr. Seymour's talents by others.

The story begins with writer James Ziral, who was looking for an artist to create illustrations for a documentary he was making on slavery in Bermuda between 1616 and emancipation day, 1834.

"We met in the street one day, and he said to me, `I think you're the person I want to see','' Mr. Seymour recalls. "We talked, and he told me what he wanted me to paint.'' Mr. Ziral required 140 illustrations -- a quantity so large that the artist was temporarily hesitant.

"But then, the challenge looked good, and the subject looked good, so I took on what seemed to be a monster assignment,'' Mr. Seymour says. "I'm glad I did, even though it took over a year to meet the different deadlines.'' The artist explains that Mr. Ziral's television programme, entitled Freedom Quest, was based on the whole picture of slavery in Bermuda, thus requiring him to provide a wide range of illustrations.

"The real challenge was trying to capture the moods and expressions,'' he says of his work.

So beautifully did Mr. Seymour fulfil his assignment that while it was screening, it stopped one viewer in her tracks.

Enter Julie Sylvester Cabot, who co-ordinates exhibitions at the ACE Atrium Gallery.

A former gallery owner in New York and publisher for friends at the Whitney Museum in New York, Mrs. Sylvester Cabot was so impressed with what she was seeing on her screen that she phoned everyone she could think of, urging them to tune in.

"And the rest is history,'' a delighted Mr. Seymour says.

"I realised immediately this was a significant body of work about a very important subject,'' Mrs. Sylvester Cabot explains. "I think Al is one of the most important watercolour artists in Bermuda, and ACE provides a backdrop for it to unfold.'' Indeed, the ACE Foundation has been hosting a series of exhibitions in its Atrium Gallery, highlighting the work of Bermudian and international artists artists for some time.

"The ACE Foundation has identified art and culture as being part of the ways in which it supports the local community,'' explains Ms Carla Bean of ACE's Communications Department.

As a Bermudian employee, Ms Bean also finds it interesting that the work of local artists is featured extensively throughout the ACE buildings.