Painter and sculptor Ed Dolinger, who lives in Bassett, worked with the Patrick Henry High School students to design a bus shelter. Dolinger ensured the design met the necessary requirements.

When a group of Patrick Henry High School students worked with a professional artist to design a bus shelter, art teacher Jennifer Fowler said the lesson extended beyond lines and planes or colors and textures.

"They got a sense of reality, of what the art world will be like," she said. "You can't just do what you want. You have to fit the purchaser's need."

The students worked with Bassett artist Ed Dolinger to design the yellow-and-purple semi-umbrella-shaped freestanding sculpture. The functional artwork, which sits near the school's entrance on Grandin Road, is the composite of more than a dozen students' concepts, tooled and perfected by Dolinger to meet building, site and accessibility standards.

The dedication of the public art bus shelter on Monday marks the completion of half of an $80,000 collaborative effort between the city, the school system and Valley Metro, the public transit company that serves the city. A second bus shelter will be installed at William Fleming High School by March.

Money for the project came from Valley Metro and Percent for Art, which is a city council program to pay for public art.

Dolinger, an adjunct sculpture professor at Hollins University and owner of a downtown gallery, said the public art bus shelters fit with the type of work he is accustomed to: teaching and working with at-risk youth and engaging the community in art.

"I get more out of it than they do," he said jovially.

Dolinger began working with the students on the design more than a year ago. About 15 students developed designs. Dolinger ultimately narrowed down the designs to two, which were presented to the city council. Site restrictions, building code criteria, engineering concerns, handicapped accessibility guidelines and upkeep and maintenance governed the final design.

"You may like it, you may not like it," said Mayor David Bowers at the dedication ceremony. "You may approve, you may not approve of it. Art is supposed to bring out an experience."

Dolinger named the sculpture "Aspire." He said he chose a verb instead of a noun because he wanted to highlight the project's collaborative working nature. It is Dolinger's hope that when the piece is viewed, it will spur the city's residents to aspire to support the arts, he said.

Mickey Hudson, 17, a senior at Patrick Henry, was one the students who designed tiles for a wall installed in the berm behind the sculpture.

"When I graduate and come back, it's a memory of being here at school," he said.

Across town in Northwest Roanoke, the design for Fleming's public art bus shelter reflects the style of the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, said Susan Jennings, Roanoke's arts and culture coordinator.

Dolinger said Fleming's design plays off the new $57 million school's modern framework. It is a four-post design with wrapping vines -- and he promises a flashy paint job to boast the school's colors.