Its art or so I think... (1/2)

Baekho cleared his throat, sending a smile in the general direction of the students."I want you to draw this draping for today’s task." He announced and pointed to the fabrics that were neatly draped around the mannequin.

The students nodded, listening carefully as Baekho kept talking, speaking about the beautiful purple color of soft silk, the sharp lines of the folds, the details and ornaments on a light colored but heavy wool material and the shine of the metallic faux leather.

It wasn't really important what he told them because basically Baekho was only talking for the sake of conditioning the innocent and unaware students.

He had to suppress a snicker because it was just some weird way of his and it only ever really worked once but it was a challenge for them never the less.

By giving all those details about what the students were to draw he wanted to see how many of them would look at the still life through their own eyes after he'd told them all the things he seemingly considered pretty about it.

He finished his little speech and turned to the students clapping his hands together and sticking his elbows out to the sides.

"Alright get started. You got 30 minutes." He ordered and within seconds the room was filled with rustling noises as the students pulled their materials out.

Slowly the air got invaded by the sound of quiet concentration and Baekho fought hard to resist his urge to walk around the room and steal glances at the works in progress.

He didn't want to scare the students off with overly observant and critical eyes on their first project, they were about to be quite confused a couple minutes later anyway.

His eyes stayed glued to the clock above the door only occasionally stealing glances at the students covering their white sheets with colors.

30 minutes passed fast for the aspiring designers, not so fast for Baekho through and he was itching to see the results of their first assignment.

When the time was finally up Baekho walked to the front, standing in front of the mannequins with a smile.

"Time's up." He said and heard a few growls, a couple hectically executed last strokes of a brush against paper.

He told the students to turn their papers so everyone could have a look at the others work.

Hesitantly the students did as they were told, some interestedly looking at their classmate’s works, others keeping their eyes to the floor in embarrassment.

Baekho took the moment to take in every single painting.

All of them were pretty, some really beautiful with interesting compositions, detailed shapes and color arrangements.

Some students had kept the colors clear, just as they came from the palette others had mixed and blend them together, creating different colors and shades.

All those drawings had one thing in common though; they displayed as many details as possible of what Baekho had pointed out beforehand.

It was something Baekho had expected, he knew it was always hard to concentrate on the details one wanted to point out when the head was set on fitting expectations instead of capturing what caught ones personally interest.

He glanced over the drawings once more, nodding his head before a smile crawled onto his lips.“Alright…now rip those apart.”

Beakho ordered and the students gasped, some stared at their drawings, scanning them for possible flaws.

Bakeho smilled gently.

“Rip them.” He ordered again a little encouraging and soon the sound of ripping papers filled the room.

Baekho nodded.

“All of your drawings were great.” He said pointing at the pile of paper that sat in the middle of their small circle.

“But they all were drawn with the thought of fitting my expectations, am I right?”

The students exchanged some glances; some nodded at each other or whispered quietly."You know what I consider art to be?"

All eyes went on him.

"It's a form of expressing yourself, your feelings, thoughts, emotions and the like. So I ask of you to never draw anything in this class to fit someone else’s expectations."

He paused, letting his eyes travel over the students faces.

"We will learn about different styles, from naturalistic to abstract illustration and some of you might relate to a certain topic more than to the other. I know it can be hard to work in a field you don't feel connected to but I'd like you to try anyway. Try to find a way to turn the task at hand into your own, play with it and form it until it reflects you as a person. Whether you do it using colors, shapes or dimensions will always be up to you."

The students nodded, confused expressions still present on their faces.

Baekho smiled a soft gentle smile as he pulled one of the empty chairs into the circle of students.

He sat with his elbows resting on his knees; hands folded between them and started explaining.

His hands started gesturing as soon as the first words left his lips.

He liked to view art as an unchained subject that allowed everyone to express themselves with their own uniqueness.

However Baekho was well aware that there were some rules to art.

Different styles were defined by the times they'd been invented in, by whom they'd been invented, why they'd been invented and what influenced art during that time.

Art styles were defined by the different materials one used, the colors one picked and the dimensions and shapes one worked with.

He wanted his students to understand and know the styles and eras of art so when they picked a certain way to approach their own drawings, for them to know what they were doing and who had done it before them and what their intentions might had been.

He was not opposed to bending the rules of art though.

Actually it was what he hoped for his students to do, to play with different styles and materials, combine different styles from different eras or rearrange them to create their own way of expression.