ATTLEBORO - Noted Cleveland artist and industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost placed an indelible imprint on American society ranging from little red wagons to delivery trucks. But his most lasting impression may be in the form of his students, who have in turn influenced the design of everything from fine automobiles to cell phones.

Former student Kirk Bennion now heads General Motors's design bureau. Classmates John Nottingham and John Spirk run one of the most successful design studios in the world responsible for more than $30 billion in products sold. The late Fred Miller created some of the most elegant silver pieces ever devised and John Paul Miller, now in his 90s, is still designing and making some of the world's most elegant 18 karat gold jewelry.

"As students we were all so impressed to have Viktor as a teacher," said Chuck Tramontana, himself a former student of Schreckengost who had the famous ceramacist as a professor for three years at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Tramontana, a trustee of the Attleboro Museum, critiqued and designed crystal and dinnerware for a series of prestige companies before retiring last year.

"Everything he said was so precise, so sincere," Tramontana said. "But also there was this great sense of humor." The works of Bennion, Nottingham, Spirk and Tramontana are among those of several Schreckengost disciples that will be on display during the Viktor Schreckengost Legacy Exhibition that begins today at the Attleboro Arts Museum.

The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit runs through May 16.

Tramontana, lead curator for the exhibition, was joined by several other former students, as well as museum volunteers, to arrange the artworks.

The show, the second largest retrospective of the artist's work ever, was planned during the last two years with Schreckengost's own participation. The retired art professor, who devised iconic consumer items like an art deco lawn chair and children's pedal toys, died Jan. 26 at the age of 101. But Schreckengost's legacy lives on.

Half visionary genius, half provocateur, the artist grins sweetly from a large portrait on the wall of the museum. His clay-stained fingers are splayed about a lined, all-knowing face.

A professional artist and professor for more than 70 years, Schreckengost was capable of turning out both formal water colors and playful ceramics like a bulbous-faced moose imbued with the artist's elfish sense of humor.

Students say Schreckengost loved to tell stories of adolescent pranks that he helped co-author during his college days, including a time when he and other students posed as rug cleaners to "borrow" carpets for their fraternity house from Cleveland hotels. No one is quite sure how literally to take the professor's tales.

One thing that is unmistakable, said Tramontana, is the depth of Schreckengost's influence on both his students and the larger worlds of consumerism and arts.

"He had a vision," Tramontana said. "He believed you should expose the student to the widest variety of art possible."

Tramontana took Schreckengost's required course on designing dinnerware, but confessed he thought it a "waste of time." Ironically, he later ended up working for companies like Gorham Silver and Reed and Barton, where his job was to evaluate imported tableware. Tramontana laughs. "I just look up and say, 'Thank you Viktor,'" he said.

Schreckengost's imprint on the world of consumerism looms even larger. Together with the White Motor Company, the artist invented the cab-over-engine truck. Far more than a design triumph, Schreckengost's vision paved the way for more efficient, fuel-efficient vehicles capable of carrying far more cargo than their predecessors.

Other brainstorms included the little red wagon familiar to generations of preschoolers and the art deco bicycle idolized by children throughout the 1940s and 50s - not to mention Pee Wee Herman.

But Schreckengost could also bend his mind to more serious concepts, including a vital radar recognition system he developed for the armed forces during World War II.

Schreckengost's influence on common consumer products lives on through his students and their work, examples of which will be displayed at the museum throughout the exhibit.

A focal point will be a 2009 Corvette that will be on display beginning Wednesday. General Motors' Bennion will be on hand March 29 to deliver a series of exclusive talks on the car's design. Tickets are $50.

For additional information about the Schreckengost exhibition or to obtain tickets, visit www.attleboroartsmuseum.org or call 508-222-2644.