Art, Thursday, Period Three

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"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."

Comments

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

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."

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

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.

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

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.

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

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?"

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"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."

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

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

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"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."

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

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."

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"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."

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

"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?

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

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."

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

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

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"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'!"

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

"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."

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"...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.

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

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."

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Our friendship would be beautiful an' you know it," Hardison told him. "Though we might end up fightin' over who you like better an' that might just end up messy. For me."

Because Rhodey had been friends with Tony for decades and Hardison respected that.

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

"I'm sorry, my honey bear has been through a lot with me," Tony replied sympathetically. "Saved my dumb ass from a few creeps in college."

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"A'ight, but I still gotta get a cool nickname," Hardison declared. "Can't claim to have saved your pretty ass in college, but I still wanna be somethin' cool."

'Honey bear' was a totally cool endearment, what?!

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

"It has to happen organically. Pudding pop? Lambchop?"

God help everyone around them.

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Fair, fair," Hardison said. "Cause otherwise I'mma end up callin' you Snookums an' no one needs that."

There were students here, guys. Poor, innocent students!

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

It was the 'pudding pop' that really traumatized them, wasn't it?

"Don't think I won't answer to that," Tony replied.

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Absolutely.

Hardison laughed outright. "The possibility never even crossed my mind," he promised.

Re: Talk to Hardison

[imafuturist]

"I love petnames," he replied proudly. Because it usually meant someone actually liked him. Usually.

Re: Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Then I'mma definitely gonna figure out a good one for you," Hardison declared. He reached out for a fistbump. "How else everyone gonna know you're my bestie, yo?"