>> Art is interactive by nature -- what a person gets out of a piece of art is heavily dependent on what they bring to it. A piece of artwork is like a mirror; the art stays the same, but everyone who looks at it sees something different. <<

Absolutely -- but that also means people need art they can relate to. Shiv understands cats and graffiti. Classical art, not so much.

>>Well, I certainly know where my brain went -- straight to Smaug attacking Laketown! But if T-Earth doesn't have that story, or Shiv hasn't heard about it, he wouldn't recognize that. <<

*laugh* They do have it, and Shiv has probably at least heard of it, but it's not the first association in his mind.

>>Oh FFS. Those teachers weren't artists, and didn't hang out with artists. There might be such a thing as an artist with a tidy studio, but I have yet to encounter one! Oh sure, you have to pick up and sort out occasionally just so that stuff doesn't either get lost or pile up in your work area until you don't have space to work, but it always just gets messy again. <<

Shiv spent way too much time with teachers and foster parents who were more concerned with controlling him than actually repairing the damage. Which made it a lot worse.

>> And yes, when you're doing artwork of any sort, protecting the workspace from overflow mess is a good idea. But you won't figure that out until the first time you forget. :-) <<

Thus demonstrating why mistakes are important: so you can learn.

>> Important background information! Shiv has lived in at least one home where there was no money for household maintenance, and so when the sink clogged up it stayed that way for a long time. <<

Exactly. Part of the problem is that Shiv has a lower-class background, which means a lot of resources that would've helped were simply out of reach.

>>Also, Graham has obviously never had that experience or known anyone who did (or who talked about it, at least), so he failed to recognize what Shiv was saying. <<

Or if Graham has, it wasn't enough to leave a lasting impression that made an easy connection to Shiv's reference.

>> Yep, that's the abused-child reflex, all right. But also, the idea that "classes are for kids" and that becoming a grownup means you never have to sit in a classroom again is fairly common across all social strata. <<

Part of it is that Shiv hates school because it was miserable for him. But part is because he never felt welcome there, and people constantly told him that he was stupid and doing it wrong and never going to amount to anything. That makes him mentally wall off the idea of any further education as not available to him. Which is all kinds of wrong because T-American law requires the foster system to provide family support if it fails to secure a new family for the children who can't be returned to their original one. That includes funding an education. Shiv doesn't know that part yet.

>> Yes. See also, "Engineering is a collection of successful recipes. Science is a bunch of kids playing in the kitchen and making a mess." - Dr. Jordin Kare <<

Well said.

>> Breakthrough! <<

It really is. Shiv realized that something was actually working for him, enough to be worth repeating, and was then willing to say so aloud.