Although you can't see his eyes, you know he's watching you through his mad-scientist goggles. His caged body is filled with blocks of elements, some benign, some explosive. For travel, he rides on vintage roller skates to spread his meaning of life.
He is "Chemistry Man," an award-winning assemblage created by Ben LeGrand, a sophomore at Pleasant Grove High School. The stunning work won one of the top art awards in the state-the Visual Arts Scholastic Event Visionary of Excellence Award. LeGrand's work was chosen as No. 1 from 40,000 state entries.
This is the second VASE award given to a student at Pleasant Grove, an accomplishment Nicole Brisco, LeGrand's art teacher, said has not happened at another school in Texas.
Her students advanced through regional and area events, arriving in San Antonio last month to compete against 2,000 students across the state. A total of 25 All State Gold Medals were won by the young artists at PG, with 15 individual works earning a perfect score, meaning zero deductions. The students also brought home two All State Gold Seal awards.
LeGrand said his molecularly human project began with creating the blocks in the style of a child's toy. While deciding which designs to transfer on the blocks, the 16-year-old artist found his spark of creativity.
"Ms. Brisco told me about her husband, how he was a chemist, and that kind of inspired me to do the molecules and the elements on the wood blocks," he said, "and it all came together as 'Chemistry Man.'"
He said he then "just threw it together," taking the head from an imperfect piece of an old project.
"It was messed up, and I turned it into something that worked out pretty good," he said.
LeGrand then filled the antique skates with concrete and a large screw to connect them to the body, holding the metal upright while the mixture hardened.
And the goggles?
"I thought it would top off the whole chemistry theme," he said, "like a mad chemist."
Brisco has guided many students in her program to win top honors during her tenure at PG, and she said pushing students through their moments of self-doubt while encouraging them that their ideas could actually work is part of her method.
"The more you expose them to, the more they would be excited about trying something new, because art is reallythere's a lot of fear in producing artwork," she said. "We're all working together. Sometimes art gets really creativeletting loose of a lot of the norms in art, too."
Brisco said she's also instructing her students through her own experience as a practicing artist, enlightening them on how to envision the end product.
"They're inexperienced, so when they're creating artwork, they can't always see the end result down the road, and you have to keep pushing and pushing. I'm pretty sure Ben could have stopped at several points," she said. "You hit little blockades in art, and you don't know if you're supposed to go any further because some people say, 'Stop where you're at. It's done.' But then, there's that fine line of knowing where to go over. And that's what a teacher is there for is to tell them. And then they have to trust you, too."
"Chemistry Man" is in San Antonio and will skate into galleries across Texas as part of the traveling Gold Seal exhibit of 150 pieces. It will remain in the show for one year and be displayed in many federal buildings, including the Texas Capitol in Austin.
Taking one of his first sculpture works to the state level was unexpected, LeGrand said humbly, and at first, he didn't believe he had won the top award. He added that art is definitely in his future, although he doesn't have a master plan for channeling his creativity.
"I'm just grateful for the opportunity," he said, "and I'm grateful for my teachers who pushed me through the whole process."
LeGrand's sculpture, along with others in the exhibit, can be viewed at taea.org/vase.