Getting crafty...

Madeline Criddle, right, cringes while Natalie Baublitz watches as a cockroach from Mountain Home High School's zoology department walks through the paint on her canvas during a youth art class held Sept. 12 at the high school.

As the insects sped across the canvas, the paint on their feet left behind trails that helped create unique works of art for each student.

Held on alternating Wednesdays through April 13, art instructors Brenda Raub and Amber Cobos started the after-school program as a way to compensate for the loss of art programs at each of the school district's elementary schools as well as the middle school. Last week's class focused on the work of Robert Indiana, an American painter, sculptor and print maker, who celebrated his 84th birthday last Thursday.