Art Lesson

About two months ago we had gone through all of the logistics in organizing a field trip to Ibadan which is about 2 hours away from Victoria Island where the school is. We had the security arranged, the money collected, the permission forms filled in, the parents and children giddy with excitement. And then it all went to kaput because I got sick.

Lanre, my art teacher, and I had rearranged for another day a couple of weeks later, but I was still sick. Then Lanre got married, then he was on his honeymoon, then we had spring break! But, today was the glorious day when we finally made this art happen. And I was jazzed because our Batiks will make the best Mother's days gifts.

We gathered in the pool conference room at tables, were handed our cassava paper and shaved sponges. I introduced them to Lanre and gave them a brief overview of what we would be doing. Next we gathered around the mortar and pixel I had gotten on a previous trip and we combined a plant (with a difficult Yoruba name) and water. Everyone took turns pounding the plant to extract the red pant.

Ike didn't think the paint smelled very good.

Also we gathered in the cramped kitchen where we watched Lanre add another plant to boiling water. The rest of the hour and half we sketched circles and rectangles and outlined with hot wax. I sounded like a broken record reminding the children that the wax is very hot and the pot is hot and to not touch them. I was nervous as this isn't really a kiddie craft with hot wax being dripped everywhere.

I love all of those different little heads. Such diversity even in this side of their face.

Lilly applying her wax.

Ariana and Karoline making puddles of paint

Kaelan and Aasir getting the paint and their groove on

Otokini deep in thought during the art process

At one point we had our wax applied. We had painted our shapes with bright blues and greens and reds. Now we were asking 18 6 year olds to wait for the paint wet layered paint to dry. I was staling and distracting and trying to make the experience more educational by asking them to review the steps of our lesson so far or to tell me the properties of the sponge. In the corner of my eye I saw wild dancing flames coming from the kitchen. Tyron wrinkled up his nose and sniffed saying "I smell smoke." And I just tried even harder to steer their attention away from the obvious. If you remain calm they remain calm. They are a mirror for your own reactions. I kept the conversation going while I casually opened all the windows and prayed that the fire alarm wouldn't be set off. They took care of the fire and next thing I know the paint is dry and we are back to waxing.

As Temi and Uche left we joked about the fire and said that if any parents brought it up we would just laugh and say "What fire? Oh, that was all part of the artistic progress. Yeah, no big deal."

The stage before we paint everything black and then iron