As an artist, Wyatt LaGrand said he can complete 30-40 paintings in one plein air session — mindful of the time constraints nature provides. As a high school art teacher, he said he is honest. He tells his students art will always come before teaching in his life.
LaGrand showed his blend of impressionist and representational painting at his artist talk and demonstration Tuesday at the Venue Fine Art & Gifts. The gallery is one LaGrand said he frequented during his time as a student at IU.
“While I was here, I fell in love with just making art,” LaGrand said. “When I graduated and couldn’t find a teaching position anywhere, I moved back home. A series of events led me to believe that trying to make art and make a living off of it would be a good idea. I guess I got kind of lucky.”
As he spoke to the small crowd in the gallery, he set up his easel and organized his palette. The remnants of oil paint decorated the glass tray. LaGrand said he just scrapes the scabs of dry paint off the top to preserve the usable material underneath.
LaGrand studied art education and graduated in 2009. Following graduation, he started looking for art teacher positions in schools. He applied to six jobs for safety.
When none of those opportunities worked out, he said he took advice from his grandmother and one of her friends to take part in an outdoor painting event. He ended up taking home the second place prize and discovering a new calling.
“The immediacy of it and having to have sort of an intuitive response to whatever’s in front of you, that’s always an attraction,” LaGrand said. “It also gives me an opportunity to do other things that I really like doing like traveling and being outdoors, I really like that.”
Dave Colman, curator at the Venue, said LaGrand’s blend of style sets him apart from other artists. The recipient of multiple artistic awards, LaGrand will rise as a star in the art world, Colman said.
“In art circles, he’s hot,” Colman said. “When I first met him, he was sort of starting out, but he’s emerged and is doing very well as an artist. His has a sort of liveliness to it that, I think, incorporates his speed.”
LaGrand showed the group a sketch and a photograph of the façade of a factory building at night. He said he does not copy photographs or sketches directly when he works, but draws from them as he creates an impressionistic version of the scene in his head.
LaGrand now works as an art teacher in Bloomfield, Indiana. He took over for his former art teacher after she retired. LaGrand said it is strange to be back in the room in such a different role — his name is still carved into one of the tables he used as a student.
Letting the students know he is an artist first allows them to ask him about his work openly. He said he often shares pictures and stories from his work and experiences.
“I’m very honest with them — I’ve had a lot of experience doing a lot of art-related things I try to share,” LaGrand said. “I’m in a unique position where, before I started teaching, I was a practicing artist and I still am.”
Allowing students to see that he is pursuing the passion is something LaGrand said he thinks students need.
“They’re given this idea in high school that they actually need to do something productive,” LaGrand said. “A lot of them give up on those big dreams they were told to go after whenever they were younger so a lot of them they need an example.”
The blend of stylistic technique and his speed with plein air work are just a few of the attractive qualities of LaGrand’s work, Colman said.
“I like his use of color,” Colman said. “When you work plein air and you’re working outside with oil in particular, oil doesn’t dry quickly – the light changes. If you can’t do it fairly quickly, by the time you finish you’re looking at a different scene.”
Colman said LaGrand’s teaching abilities lend themselves to such a demonstration.
“He’s a bright guy and he’s a good communicator, it fits into his teaching skills,” Colman said. “He’s much bigger than Greene County.”
Though he likes teaching, LaGrand said the freedom to choose his own path for the future is one of the most attractive parts of being an artist.
“There will probably be a time where I say, ‘That was fun,’ and move on,” LaGrand said. “I want to keep on teaching for a while — I can’t really foresee myself not teaching at this moment. Being the way that I am, at any moment I could change my mind.”
