Creative Arts, Monday, Period 2

[screwyoumarvel]

Steve was standing at the front of the classroom today as the students arrived. He was dressed somewhat more casually than he usually was for teaching, in a blue t-shirt that already had paint smudged on it and an old pair of equally paint-smudged jeans. "Good morning, everyone," Steve said as soon as the clock ticked over to ten o'clock. If someone was late, that was not his problem. "I'm Steve Rogers, and I'm your teacher for Creative Arts this term. It's pretty straightforward, no hidden motives here, just, art. Making, not talking about. Don't expect a lot of lectures from this class. Do expect a lot of doing things, and more importantly, doing things that can ruin your clothes. We'll be using paint, ink, clay, glue, plaster...and other things. I've provided smocks," at this, he gestured to where they were hung along the wall, "but I strongly encourage you to wear something you don't mind getting messed up. Obviously that will vary from person to person, but just to give you an idea, normally to teach I'd wear a nice pair of slacks and a button-down shirt, but this is what I wear when I'm painting, so it's what I'll be wearing for this class.

"Now, that said," he said, his voice taking on a warning tone as he crossed his arms, "What's not allowed is making a mess on purpose. Later in the semester we might do a few projects where this rule will be suspended, but anyone caught deliberately damaging school property or, say, slinging paint or other art supplies at a fellow student will have to stay after class to clean anything they've messed up by hand whether they have a quicker way or not, and will receive detention. Got it? Good. Everyone should have a basket of supplies at their desk." In each basket were paints, containers to put the paints and some water in, and pads of paper.

"Today," Steve explained, "we're going to finger paint--yes, really, it's actually surprisingly fun--and introduce ourselves. Everyone tell the rest of the class your name, where you're from, what kind of art you like, and another interesting fact about yourself. As I said before, my name is Steve Rogers--that's Mr. Rogers to you all--and I'm from New York City. I like illustrations, and I once punched Hitler. Now it's someone else's turn." After a momentary pause, he added, "Oh, and Mr. Stark, please see me after class."

Comments

Introductions/Fingerpainting

[screwyoumarvel]

Mess around with the fingerpaints and introduce yourselves.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[therewaslife]

Believe it or not, Bod had never fingerpainted before. He was kind of excited to do it so he went right at the darker colors: greens, blacks, reds, and blues to draw what looked like a messy graveyard on his paper.

"I'm Nobody Owens," he said when it was his time to introduce himself, "from England, obviously. I haven't been exposed to a lot of art before this but sculpting has caught my eye several times. It's hard to imagine things like clay and plaster becoming beautiful figures or things."

And now he needed another interesting fact. The first thing he thought of was, "I've been kidnapped by ghouls before. One of them was called the Bishop of Bath and Wells."

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

"Is that anything like the Cardinal of Bed, Bath, and Beyond?" asked Butters with a laugh.

He thought he was being funny. Forgive him, Bod.

Please.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[therewaslife]

"I...don't know who that is," Bod said apologetically. "None of the ghouls gave that name so there could have been a Cardinal but he didn't introduce himself too."

Poor Bod, he didn't take offense but he still had no idea if Butters was serious or not.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[screwyoumarvel]

"Was he really the Bishop of Bath and Wells?" Steve asked curiously.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[therewaslife]

"No, sir," Bod answered, shaking his head. "From what I learned, the ghouls take the names of the last person they, uh, ate."

Bod shuddered a bit.

"If one of them had eaten me, I suppose they would have taken my name until they'd found someone else to eat."

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

Quinn hadn't fingerpainted since elementary school, and she was tentative with it for fear of messing up her manicure. (Too bad, she was going to have to redo it anyhow.) Still, she roughed in a half-decent set of fireworks and was contemplating filling in some buildings along the ground by the time it was her turn to talk.

"Hi, I'm Quinn Fabray from Lima, Ohio," she began. "I like Impressionist art -- Degas and Renoir and all of that. And an interesting thing about me is that I was sorority co-chair last year."

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[screwyoumarvel]

"What speaks to you about the Impressionists, Quinn?" Steve asked her.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"I just like the colors," Quinn answered honestly. "They're pretty. Make me feel peaceful."

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi so, so, so wanted to throw paint on Quinn. But. Maybe saving that for next week would be good. She liked Mr. Rogers, for dealing with Karla's cooking if nothing else.

"I'm Kenzi, I like graphic novels-- the Dreamspinner series especially-- annnd I have a pet cat. At least for a week or so." Maybe longer. "He wears a fedora."

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[screwyoumarvel]

There would be no throwing paint on Quinn, thankyouverymuch. "Graphic novels and comics have such a distinct style of art," Steve said. "Some of the conventions are very different from what you find in, say, a painting. Interesting choice." Then he had to ask, "How do you get the cat to keep the fedora on his head?"

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

But she made such great faces when you threw stuff at her!

"I don't know!" She leaned forward, eyes wide. "He just does! It's like a cat superpower!"

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Hey, finger painting! Yeah, Tony hadn't actually done all that much of it as a kid. Possibly because he had access to materials that caused even bigger messes.

"My name is Tony Stark," he said, looking at his smudged interpretation of the New York skyline. "I guess I'm interested in metal work." Just ask the girl he wooed with a welded together motherboard flower. "And one time I met Steve Jobs."

Neeeerd.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[screwyoumarvel]

"I don't know if we'll be doing any metal work in this class," Steve admitted. Giving the students access to fire seemed doomed to failure. "But we'll see. And that must have been very exciting for you." He was Tony Stark, after all.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[geewhizfellas.livejournal.com]

After a session of singing under his breath as he fingerpainted, he eventually had a bright picture of himself (http://kiityofdoom.deviantart.com/art/Leopold-Butters-Stotch-35041735) to show everyone as he smiled happily and went into his introduction.

"H-hey, everybody!" he said. "I'm Butters Stotch. I'm from South Park, Colorado, and I love all kinds of art, especially finger painting and model cars! And I've never punched Hitler, but I did fart on Eric Cartman once!"

Which was right about on the same level, after all.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[screwyoumarvel]

Steve didn't know who Eric Cartman was, and thought 'fart' quite impolite, but this kid was...well. This kid. So he avoided that entirely and said, "I hadn't really thought about model cars as art, but they are, aren't they?"

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[annieadderall.livejournal.com]

Annie was fingerpainting thoughtfully. Introductions always made her a little wary, because the most interesting things she could say about herself were things that she was more than a little embarrassed about.

"I'm Annie Edison from Greendale, Colorado," she began. "And I'm open to art. I don't have a lot of experience with it, so I don't know what I like and what I don't yet. And, um... I make a really good bad cop!"

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, it was her big sister! Hi, big sister! Rapunzel waved at Annie way too enthusiastically. Fortunately she did it before she got paint all over her fingers, so there wasn't a splatter all over the place.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[screwyoumarvel]

"Hello, Annie," Steve said. "I hope you'll figure out some of what appeals to you in this class...and that you don't have to play bad cop."

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

George's drawings were mostly of flowers that had been set on fire. Some of them had happy flower faces that were now screaming and running for cover.

"My name is George Lass, I'm from Seattle, and I really like that one painting that ... I don't know the name of it. It's a bunch of people in a diner and they're all just kind of sitting there, quietly, and there's something kind of muted about it, like they all have something in common but they don't know it. They think they're all alone and it's kind of hollow, somehow."

Okay, apparently art made her more expressive.

"I got hit by debris from the space station Mir."

Well, why the fuck not.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[screwyoumarvel]

"Nighthawks," Steve said, "by Edward Hopper. Interesting choice." Especially given the language she used to describe it. "And that must have been...an interesting experience." To say the least.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

It had been a long time since Rapunzel had painted with her fingers. Mother tended to disapprove of messes. So she was gleefully mixing colors and trying to paint something that captured her experiences on the beach Saturday.

The scale, beauty, majesty. She didn't really feel like she was doing a very good job of it, but that didn't stop her excited grin.

Oh, and then it was her turn to introduce herself!

"I'm Rapunzel," she declared brightly. "And I love to paint." Loved, loved, loved it. If her expression was anything to go by. "And, um, I have very long hair?"

Was it cheating to state the very, very, very obvious?

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[screwyoumarvel]

Yes, Steve had noticed the hair. "Your surname wouldn't happen to be Amaquelin, would it?" he asked. He was pretty sure there wasn't a third child in that family, but. The hair.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[selfhelphero]

"I'm Billy Kaplan," he said, sounding more nervous about his own name than he probably should have. Mr. Rogers kind of had that effect on him, even after multiple semesters of classes with him. "I like comic books and graphic novels, and, uh, I can fly."

Yes, it was still interesting to him.

Re: Introductions/Fingerpainting

[randomspanish.livejournal.com]

Freddie would be totally happy to fingerpaint. "My name is Freddie Benson, and I'm from Seattle," he introduced. "I like all kinds of art. My friend Carly's big brother is actually a professional artist. He says he's a sculptor, but he's really talented at other stuff, too. And as for me, well, I do work on a weekly webshow. That's creative and stuff."