A STUNNING, life-sized fibreglass sculpture of a manta ray will be the centrepiece of a dramatic exhibition by a former Royal Marine Commando turned artist at Duchy Square Centre for Creativity.

The exhibits can be seen at Duchy Square Centre in Princetown from October 15 to 30. The manta ray and several sharks are part of an amazing animal sculpture show at the Princetown gallery by Torbay-based Scott Gleed, who turned to model making, and ultimately art, after a career as a diver and fast raider coxswain in the marines.

The model making began when Scott was left paralysed for 18 months following a helicopter accident and he re-trained as an illustrator and target model maker.

When he finally left the services in 1991, he started his own company Gleed Design, carrying on the model making and graphics work before the business morphed into Scott Gleed Sculpture.

Over the last ten years, 53-year-old Scott has continued to hone his sculpture skills producing a series of life sized aquatic models for aquariums in the UK and abroad. They include three sharks, a hammerhead, a mako and a blue.

He has worked for a number of conservation groups and charities and in 2009 was a finalist in the David Shepherd international wildlife artist of the year. A year later he produced the 7ft manta ray for the Maldivian Manta Ray Project. As well as the aquatic sculptures, Scott has made models of osprey, salmon, otters and red kites. Alongside fibre-glass and plastic, he also works in metal finishes such as copper, aluminium and bronze.

Scott said: 'This is my first solo exhibition and I will have a large cross section of my work on show on the theme of water, land and sky.

'There will be some life-size pieces, such as the 7ft manta ray right down to fighting stag beetles.'

l For more information on workshops and the exhibition programme at Duchy Square, call 01822 890828 or visit the website where contact details for all the artists can be found.