fandomhigh | Japanese Art, Friday, Period Two

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japanese art

Japanese Art, Friday, Period Two

Algren, clad in actual modern clothing today instead of the yukata he'd briefly contemplated wearing to class before deciding that might be laying it on a little thick, was looking faintly amused as he settled in for his lesson today. He'd set a low table in the middle of the room, all desks and chairs pushed off to the side, and there were cushions on the floor around the table so that students could sit comfortably. On the table were stacks of brightly colored pieces of paper, cut into squares.

"Ohayōgozaimasu," he greeted, giving a small nod once it looked as though his students had settled in. "Good morning, and welcome to Japanese Art. I'm Captain Nathan Algren-- Mr. Algren for the sake of this class will do."

Or Algren-Sensei, though that seemed a little too formal for the sake of a class of three. He shrugged his shoulders all the same.

"We'll be covering several different types of Japanese art over the course of this workshop, starting with the one most people have at least a passing familiarity with," he gestured to the paper, "and moving on into calligraphy, perhaps some theater... Japan has a vast and diverse selection of art forms to choose from, and we'll barely be able to scratch the surface over the course of the next few weeks. This week, of course, is reserved for introductions - name and if there's anything in particular you hope to take away from this class - and then we'll get into folding some paper."

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And once Nathan had a moment, he glanced up to see Steve in the doorway, raising an eyebrow and then nodding, an invitation to step into the classroom.

"Come on in," he said, fairly amiably. "Can I help you with anything?"

Steve's cheeks went pink. "Probably not," he said. "I'm just interested in hearing what you're teaching. I don't know anything about Japanese art and wanted to learn."

And at that, Nathan had to grin a little.

"That seems like exactly the sort of thing that I can help with," he pointed out, reasonably. "Pick a piece of paper and we can go over some of the basic origami folds, if you like."

"Really?" Steve said, his entire face lighting up. "I've been drawing since I was a kid, but this is way out of my experience."

"There's plenty of space and plenty of paper," Nathan replied, shrugging a little. "I don't see why not."

He offered Steve a little grin.

"I didn't know that about you," he added. "You are Captain Steve Rogers, am I correct? I knew another Steve - and another Tony - the first time I lived on the island."

And between the two of them, himself, and Tyler Durden, they'd been kind of like Fandom's budget Avengers. It had been great, with the occasional side of Nazi bee trauma.

"That will stop being strange to hear eventually," Steve said with a little chuckle. "Yes, I'm Steve Rogers. It's nice to meet you."

"Nathan Algren," Nathan replied, offering Steve a handshake. "And it'll eventually stop being strange to be sharing the island with completely different versions of people I went on fishing trips with as well, I'm sure."

Don't ask him how. He was just here to teach kids how to fold paper.

Steve shook his hand with another grin. "Well, if you're ever going on another fishing trip, let me know." His gaze drifted to the paper. "And show me how to do the folding paper thing?"

"Origami," Nathan offered, gesturing to the table, complete with a wealth of paper to choose from. "And I'll be folding this for the rest of my life, it looks like, so feel free to help yourself. Would you like to start with the same bird I started the students on?"

"That sounds swell," Steve said with a smile. "What kind of bird is it supposed to be? Does it matter what color I choose?"

"I don't suppose it's meant to be any bird in particular, and you're more than welcome to use any paper you please, but-" He picked up his own and threw it to demonstrate. The little bird spun and tumbled through the air before landing on the table. "It does twirl when you throw it."

Ooooooo. Aaaaaaah.

"Ooooh," Steve said, grinning. "That's pretty neat."

"I'm kind of fond of it myself," Nathan admitted, grinning right back. "There are more complex birds than this one, of course, but this one is a good starting point."

He made a reach for a fresh sheet of paper of his own.

"Want to go over this one, step by step, then?"

"Yes, please," Steve said, reaching for a blue square of paper.

"Alright then," Nathan said, laying his paper down white side up. "First, you start by folding your paper in half, corner to corner, like this."

He demonstrated, folding his paper so that only the coloured side was showing, and the shape of the sheet remaining was a triangle.

Steve smiled. "I can fold a map and not make a mess of it," he said. "I can make a triangle."

Voila! Triangle!

"You're a natural," Nathan replied, smirking a little bit. "Now, fold that triangle in half again to make another triangle," he demonstrated, running his thumb along the edge to crease it, "make sure the crease is there before you open it back up to that first triangle you made."

Small triangle, big triangle with a line down the middle, like so.

"Well, if teaching falls through, I can always make a mint in paper folding, right?" he teased as he followed the directions.

"You're practically set for life," Nathan agreed with a laugh and a shake of his head. "Now, take the top point of your triangle, and fold them down on one side so they're just below the bottom fold."

That was easier to demonstrate than it was to explain, so Nathan did exactly that, folding the top of the triangle down so that it was a little more than 'folded in half,' with the point of the triangle hanging over the bottom edge.

Steve frowned in concentration, then repeated what Algren had done. "This is kind of relaxing," he said.

"I imagine that's half the point," Algren replied, nodding a little. "Many Japanese art forms are very... deliberate isn't quite the right word. Reflective, perhaps. Precise. A lot of care is taken to make certain that the end result is clearly a culmination of all of the careful steps taken along the way. Origami is no different, there."

He then folded the whole piece of paper in half along the crease that they'd made and unfolded before, nodding for Steve to continue following along.

Steve continued following along. "Like with sushi, too?" he asked. "Sometimes it seems more like art than food."

"A bit like sushi," Nathan mused, turning the folded paper sideways, and then folding down the tall flaps, one on either side, creasing them, and then unfolding them halfway. He smirked a bit, and then held up his finished bird. "Though sushi is a bit more on the 'functional art' end of the scale."

As opposed to his paper bird, which he was now throwing like a paper airplane so that it tumbled its way to the table.

"Well, if you're gonna eat your paper birds, I'm not gonna judge," Steve teased.

"Extra fiber in the diet never hurt," Nathan quipped, smirking faintly. "Still, I don't actually endorse eating the paper."

The taste you were looking for there was umami, not origami.

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