Art, Thursday, Period Three

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison was glad Spring Break had fallen late this year; it meant he got to talk about one last black artist before Black History Month was over. "Barkley L. Hendricks is probably one of the most famous African-American oil painters to date. While he worked in many different mediums, including photography an' landscape paintin', he was best known for his life-sized oil portraits of African-American life. He blended together American realism an' post-modernism in order to create works intended to show that black folks were just as worthy of portraiture as well. He painted celebrities, leaders of the Black Power an' Civil Rights movements, protesters an' victims of police violence, as well as himself, friends, family, an' strangers. But he just depicted them as people, them all the same dignity in art that others had been awarded for years." Hardison handed out several prints of Hendrick's portraits for the students to examine and pass around, including one print just to shove the scale Hendricks worked in. "Lawdy Mama was painted in 1969, after Hendricks toured Europe, falling in love with several artists' styles but not seein' himself or his people represented in art there. Other paintings like Passion Dancehall an' Blood show modern, funky subjects while playin' around with color. He was also not afraid to get political, like his mixed-media work In the Crosshairs of the States. Hendricks died just last year in his home in Connecticut, havin' elevated both the art of oil paintin' an' the place of black folks as subjects in modern art."

That lecture over, he directed the students' attention over to the tables, where easels were set up. "So, oil paintin' is probably the most archetypal of the fine arts. It evokes the works of the great masters, of portraits of royalty an' nobility, of any number of museums you might have been to. Wanna make someone look intelligent an' refined in media? Hang an oil paintin' on the wall somewhere in their house. Wanna shorthand to show that someone is a real artist? Let 'em work with oils or have oil paint detritus in their house. Either way, the audience instantly realizes who this character is meant to be. However, oil paints are expensive, finicky to work with, an' take forever to dry. That's why oil sticks were invented; they're blocks of rich pigment in stick form, lettin' you draw an' color right on the canvas. You can also blend sticks to get different colors an' add layers for shading an' texture, just like you could with regular oil paints."

Even as much as Hardison loved to paint with his oils, there was just no way to get a painting done in a single class period.

"Today, you're gonna experiment with portraits. Use each other for models or one of your photographs if you took any of people, or snag a selfie on your phone an' use it for the basis of a self-portrait. Go nuts. You might wanna experiment with the sticks first, just to get a feel for how they work. Another great thing about oils? If you make a mistake, you can just scrape the pigment right off the canvas and try again."

Try doing that with watercolors!

Urban Survival - The Uglier Side of City Living, Thursday, Period 2

[myownface]

"Okay, so, last week I had you all do a hands-on assignment," Sparkle said, sitting up on the desk at the front of the classroom like he was made to go there. Desks were comfortable, so sue him. "You all went out to fill bottles with drinkable water. This week, we're going to talk about that."

He grinned faintly.

"Starting with how much water you all got. What can you really do with that much water? One little canteen? That's drinking water. That's what you use to slake your thirst. During the really hot months of the year, maybe it lasts you an hour at the height of day. So, straight up, congratulations on not dying of dehydration for an hour. If you managed to get one of the larger bottles, hey, maybe you're good for a day or two, and you scored some pizza. Good job. Now let's talk about what you're going to use to cook with, and clean yourself with, and clean your clothes with. Water's more than what you drink, after all. It's damn near everything.

"For those of you who got your water bottles filled, how many of you found a source of water that you could also cook from? Or bathe in? What about cleaning your clothes, or the dishes you're going to be cooking with? Can you think of any better options for any of those things? Outdoor swimming pools or fountains for bathing in during the summer, maybe? How about garden hoses for cooking water? Talk to me about where you found your water, and whether there would be any complications in using it for any of the other things you're going to need water for. Is it going to be affected by things like the changing of the seasons? Plenty of garden hoses, pools, and fountains get shut down for the winter, for example. How about foot traffic, depending on the time of day? Or just how much space you have to make use of it? Can you even really trust it? Not every city has potable tap water, for example. There are people with homes even here in America who have been fighting for years for that."

He frowned a little, because... ugh. Seriously. His feelings on that were a lecture all on their own.

"I'm going to assume that getting water on the island is pretty easy. Basic survival on the island is pretty easy, usually. What about the cities you're familiar with? What do you suppose you'd do if you had to get water for all of those things there? Let's talk water."

Friendship and Stabbing: an Adventurer's Guide, Thursday 1st Period

[wrongkindofsith]

Today, the danger shop was on the beach. Like, one of those really nice beaches with white sand and clear blue waters and just enough places for shade so you don't get a bad sunburn. You know, a real ideal beach. Peak beach.

But you all had been in this class long enough to know nothing good could come of this, right? Right.

"Today's a beach party!" Either Magnus didn't know the trauma awaiting the class or thought it was still a party. Either option wasn't great.

"We thought you deserved a break after last class." The fact class wasn't taking place in the onsen was the first clue that Cara was lying through her teeth about that.

"We got brews and hot dogs and this sweet bonfire," Magnus said, looking around at everything they did indeed have. "And there was this urban legend of a sea monster, but I don't believe in those things."

And he was possibly also going with 'Jock Killed First In Horror Movie' as his role here.

That honour clearly belonged to NPCakin, who looked truly ridiculous in his rash vest and board-shorts as he wandered down near the waterline.

"So nothing to worry about there," Cara lied like a very bad liar.

Which became abundantly clear when a massive octopus-squid-thing popped out of the water. Because the teachers couldn't agree on one animal, so the compromise was to just mash them together. And to have it pick up NPCakin to wave around in the air in a threatening manner while said NPC shrieked in a super high pitched voice that was true to life as far as Magnus knew.

"Whoever could have seen that coming," Cara deadpanned. "Have fun with that."