fandomhigh | Art, Thursday, Period Three

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Art, Thursday, Period Three

"Sup, class an' welcome to the first day of Black History Month," Hardison said, once all of his students had filed into the art room. "I know class is usually more about makin' art than learnin' about it, but for all that African-Americans have been professional artists since before America was an independent country, there ain't a lot of people who can name even a single black visual artist. In most normal schools, you end up learnin' about the Renaissance masters, Impressionism, maybe even Modern Art an' Surrealism, but information about black artists outside of music an' the Harlem Renaissance is pretty thin on the ground. So for the rest of February, your art is gonna come with a side of history."

Sorry not actually sorry about that.

"Today, our artist is Dindga McCannon, a mixed-media artist who combines her training in the fine arts with the knowledge of needlework, embroidery, an' quiltin' that her mother an' grandmother taught her. Her art is strongly feminist in scope, in no small part because of the strong familial ties that brought her to it, celebratin' women's lives. McCannon was part of the first show of professional black women artists in New York City, back in the 1970s. For those of you who are from earth, I want y'all to think about that for a minute: it wasn't until the 1970s that New York had a show dedicated to black women artists." He couldn't help but shake his head at that.

"You can see some of McCannon's art here," he added, holding up a book with hi-res images of her quiltwork. "She also wrote an' illustrated a YA novel called Peaches. But for today, we're takin' inspiration from her work, Revolutionary Sister, currently on display at the Brooklyn Museum. Revolutionary Sister is a great example of mixed-media art, which is basically any art where more than one medium is employed. You wanna use pencil an' oil paint together, that's mixed media. Revolutionary Sister uses the kind of mixed media art that incorporated found objects--basically, you take items that were manufactured for a different purpose an' incorporate those into the finished piece. In her piece, you can see she uses yarn, bullet casings, a zipper, an' several other items to create the figure of a woman. That's what we'll be doin' today."

With that, Hardison started pulling out boxes and bins of ~~moddable~~ materials, as well as canvas and paints. "Nothin's off-limits today," he said. "But I want y'all to paint somethin' an' add these found objects into the work. Not just as accessories, though, I wanna see at least a good quarter of the piece be made up of found objects. Feel free to use other stuff we've gone over--clay, glass if you're careful, whatever. You got this."

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It was the perfect plan!

"I'll let you know which pieces have sentimental value to avoid them," Tony replied loyally. "My mother curated most of what's there."

"Aww, we'd give whatever it was back," Hardison promised. "When it comes to stealin' art, Parker enjoys the challenge. Not a huge fan of the actual piece."

Now, if Sophie were involved...

"Honestly, I'm a bit of the same," Tony admitted. "I can appreciate it, but anything other than metal and math is beyond me."

Hardison tsked. "I should drag you in here, make you spend an hour or two messin' around with paints an' stuff. Your boy said he was gonna come in here an' paint sometimes, but I ain't seen him, neither."

"He's been spending a lot of time going back home for things lately," Tony replied with a quick smile. "You can kidnap me if you like, but I was the absolute despair of most of my teachers on the subject."

"You ain't gotta be good," Hardison said, filing that bit of information about Steve away for later, "you just gotta try." He gestured towards one of the blank canvases on an easel. "We're makin' found object mixed media art today," he cajoled. "I bet you can make somethin' really cool outta that."

"Give me metal and a soldering gun and I'll make you something shiny," he teased, shuffling over to the easel to eye it critically. "When did you become interested in art?"

"I'll give you paints an' all the random junk you want," Hardison said, picking up his circle of bright yellow sponge and dipping it into a silver paint that almost looked like chrome. "C'mon, man, art is where you can push yourself, insteada settlin' for what you already know is good enough."

He had faith in you, Tony. Endless, boundless amounts of faith.

"Man, I was always drawin' as a kid. Makin' comic books, doodlin' in margins, alla that. Never really got any trainin' or anythin', outside of art classes in school. Most of what I know, I picked up from readin' stuff on the internet or learnin' for cons."

Tony smiled at that, but it went sort of distant at the end. Because oh god, all the issues with being good enough. Thanks a bunch, Howard.

"It's good." He nodded over at Hardison's easel. "However you learned aside, you have talent for it. Even if you do use it to for an illicit life of crime," he teased, stealing a tube of vivid red paint.

Yeah, Hardison had 'good enough' issues in a different way, mostly thanks to foster care and the system. Though his years with Nana and then the crew had helped that.

"Thanks, man," Hardison said, giving Tony a grin. He was going to have to figure out a way to get some hugs in to help encourage Tony while he was working. "It's fun. An' relaxin'. I used to pain in between codin' sessions to let my brain cool off. An' of course, for my excitin' life of illicit crime."

Damn him for being from a canon where character development gets to stick around. Damn him.

"See, coding was always the relaxing thing for me," he said, putting a splash of red on the canvass because it was a good color. "Schematics were way easier than dealing with people when I was a kid."

You know, before he figured out how to flirt his way through an interaction.

You would think with a canon as old as Tony Stark's, something would be allowed to stick!

"I had to get good talkin' to people," Hardison said idly. "My first almost-family made sure of that. Ain't nothin' like a cute kid to help sell religion."

And, you know, that was fine.

Noooo, every writer wanted to make their mark on the character. Bastards.

Tony wrinkled his nose, sort of really wanting to punch someone on Hardison's behalf as he added another violent slash of red. "I'm glad you're the person you are today, but can I say that sounds pretty shitty?"

"Yo, that's hella fair," Hardison said, putting the sponge down to knuckle his temple. "They weren't great people. An' when I started askin' questions, it was back to foster care for me."

And hence, his feelings of not being good enough.

"But that put me in line for Nana, so it all worked out."

"I'm glad for that then," Tony replied with a smile. "Should I fear Nana or send her a nice bouquet of flowers?"

"I mean, yes?" Hardison said with a chuckle. "She's a tiny old woman, who is sweet as pie an' will probably bake you one--but she'll also smack you in the back of the head if she thinks you need it." He gave Tony a look that said, Yes, you. "Don't matter that you're grown, that you ain't hers, that you're Tony Stark...she gonna tag you if you have it coming."

His smile was fond. "Eliot an' Parker love her to bits. An' she gives the best hugs."

Tony inspired many a person wanting to both hug and smack him upside the head, so it wasn't too unusual.

He had to laugh at that, though. "That's good. My parents weren't the type for, uh--" Parenting. The word he was looking for was parenting. "--but I got plenty of that when I made friends in college."

"I'll have to invite her to the island sometime," Hardison said. "Have you an' Steve both meet her. She loves meetin' my friends."

You know, now that he had some.

"Mostly so she can trot out tales from when I was a kid an' embarrass me."

"I would absolutely love to hear them," Tony replied. "Most of mine are in the tabloids, so it's always good to get dirt on other people."

Like his perm in college. Why did he think a perm was cool? Why?

Everyone made stupid decisions in their youth. Most people were just lucky enough to not have those decisions documented for the public.

"I mean, a'ight, but you're gonna be bored if you're waitin' for anythin' good. I know it's hard to tell with as hot an' suave as I am, but I was kinda geeky growin' up."

"You?" Tony gasped, putting his hand to his chest in shock, absolute shock at this revelation. "Never."

"Let me get you a chair, man, an' maybe some water," Hardison said. "I should know better than to just pull out these kinda surprises on people without some kinda warnin'!"

"You've just shattered my idea of you," Tony replied, trying not to laugh. "But I'll let you in on a secret... my charming personality only came about in college."

"...Yeah, but where'd it go after that?" Hardison teased.

And then tried to pull Tony in for a hug because he was only teasing and wanted to make sure Tony knew that down to his bones.

Human. Care. Bear.

Never underestimate Tony's ability to feel inadequate.

But he would totally accept a hug. "Oh, you are not allowed to talk to Rhodey. Ever."

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