For LeGrand, teaching is an art form

Shiny like steel, the oversized anvil hangs comically near the entrance to Linton-Stockton High School, evoking a Road Runner cartoon come to life.

It's hardly dangerous -- the cardboard and aluminum foil product of the high school's combined 3-D design and ceramics class.

The anvil, accompanied by a giant mushroom, are positioned as art installations throughout the school by teacher Wyatt LeGrand's students.

"I actually designed it," said junior Dess Fougerousse, 18. "I've had an anvil at home for a long time."

However, the anvil poised in midflight, hanging over the heads of students, also serves as an effective metaphor for the uncertain future art classes often face.

As the state cuts funds, often classes such as art and music face the axe under budget cuts. That's made teachers such as LeGrand, here for only a year, expand their teaching to show art's relevance across the disciplines.

"I wanted to develop the art program to be something special," LeGrand told Linton-Stockton school trustees Monday. "I try to span the whole curriculum and make it very discipline-based."

That means including not just creative projects across a variety of mediums, but also teaching art history and aesthetics, as well as how art functions as a business.

Sometimes, examining the works of an artist such as M.C. Escher, famous for his optical illusions and forced perspectives, can illustrate ideas behind other curriculums such as geometry.

"Students aren't just coming in there, making something fun and leaving," LeGrand explained. "They're focusing upon the practical aspects of having a career in art."

Graphic design and digital design, done on computers, are a key component of the classes, as are field trips to Indiana University's Mathers Museum and a student competition at the Brown County Carnegie Arts Center.

"I've been able to make a living and find a profession with my art," said LeGrand, who operates his own studio in Bloomfield. "I think that's a really valuable tool, for young, up-and-coming artists to realize, that you can actually make a living at this and that there are careers."

The art teacher also plans a public show in late April at the Carnegie Heritage and Arts Center, in conjunction with the Linton-Stockton High School Art Club.

That show will provide a real-life lesson in the pragmatic ways artists must get their works before the public for LeGrand's students.

"We're talking a lot about what you can do to get your artwork before the public," LeGrand explained, with students exploring the avenues fine artists and graphic designers use to make a living out of their art.

LeGrand's pending departure after a year as the high school art teacher gave him cause to thank school trustees Monday, addressing "how grateful I was to have the opportunity to teach here at Linton, and how welcomed I felt."

The board thanked LeGrand for taking a year to teach at the school.