fandomhigh | Art 101 - Wednesday, Period Four

Today, class was meeting in a small cave. At the back, there seemed to be a running stream and near the 'door', sunlight streamed in. That would be a constant in Professor Chevalier's class: sunlight, always, when it came to the Danger Shop.

Also assembled were various, somewhat rustic-looking paintbrushes and pots of paint.

"Today," he announced as they walked in, "we'll be covering prehistoric art."

The 'prehistoric' cave also, apparently, came with a slide projector.

"Items such as the Venus of Willendorf, the Lascaux cave paintings and this pot, found in Korea, were produced in the Neolithic age. There are examples of a aesthetic from earlier times, even before there were homo sapiens, but the first true 'art' is considered to be" he flicked back to the statue "her. The Venus of Willendorf, over 40,000 years old."

He let that sink in a little before continuing.

"Pictographs and petroglyphs are some of the best known, but as you can see from the Venus and the pot, art served many purposes even then. From bowing to the aesthetic to historical record to possible mystical or religious significance, art from it's very beginnings was a complex and multi-faceted subject."

He spread his hands to the supplies and gestured behind him to where the water flowed behind him.

"Today, I'd ask you to give these modes of expression a try, get your hands dirty. Paint on the wall and form pictographs, or use the picks to make petroglyphs. Behind me, there's some soft clay for molding as well as a few limestone rocks if anyone would like to try their hand at sculpture in that fashion. Tell your story, make something meaningful to you... or perhaps just make something pretty to put in your room and use to hold your keys. Work together or alone as you like. It's up to you.

"And, as always, feel free to ask me or our new teaching assistant, Shilo, for assistance."

[ocd up!]

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Solo or in groups.

Of course Savannah was going to be playing with the clay in an attempt to sculpt something meaningful.

"What are you making, big sister?" Jack asked teasingly, as he took a piece of clay and a seat near the girl.

She grinned at him. "I have no idea yet, little brother. I'm hoping playing with it will inspire me."

Not dirty.

Jack caught the slight innuendo, so he smiled. "I think my lump," he decided, "wants to be a flower." He started rolling small lumps of clay into balls that could be flattened into petals with his thumb.

"Flowers are some of the most expressive things in nature," Savannah said with a grin.

"Did you take Bond's class this summer?" Jack wondered. "I don't think you did. Anyhow, he did a whole unit on the language of flowers."

She shook her head. "No, I didn't." She looked up from her clay. "Really? How was that?"

"I enjoyed it," Jack said, pressing out another petal. "I'd heard a bit about it at home, but I didn't know the full list. There's a lot you can say without saying a word."

"That sounds like something I'd be interested in learning," she said as she smoothed the sides of her clay.

Raven decided to try her hand (so to speak) with the clay as well. She was attempting to make a raven (of course), and was having some moderate success.

Clay seemed a lot easier than trying to draw something meaningful on the walls, so Cordelia chose that route.

And really, Venus wasn't all that detailed, so she couldn't do much worse in making her own 'Venus'.

Getting his hands dirty sounded like a good plan, even with another class after this. Griff coated his fingers and started smearing them on one of the walls in his own take on cave painting.

Shilo had also thought that cave painting had sounded interesting, so she joined him at the wall. "Hi," she said, while dipping her hand into a dark red.

"Feel like I'm five again," Griff remarked, smudging different colors of paint together.

She grinned in response. "Except this time you won't get in trouble for painting on the walls," she said after a moment of thought. "I'm Shilo, by the way."

"I'm Griffin," he said, saluting her with painted fingers. "Don't think I've ever gotten in trouble for art before."

"I did," she replied. "I made my father a big mural on the kitchen wall while he was at work. He was so upset when he got home."

"I think my mum was just good at not leaving paints out," he smiled, imagining a kid wall mural.

"...I found my set," Shilo admitted with a grin, taking some of the dark brown paint. "My dad thought that he'd hidden them well enough so he wouldn't have to worry about me getting at them, but I found them. The only problem was that he didn't hide paper with it."

Art 101 - Wednesday, Period Four - 9/09

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