retrospec | It's Christmas in Recolle...

It's Christmas in Recolle...

After some recent changes I've had to go through yesterday, I think I could use a small distraction. So I've decided to come to all of you in order to present a curiosity of mine.

What are some of your favorite Christmas and holiday traditions? After all, I would like to include those of you who perhaps don't celebrate Christmas.

There are so many of these traditions to speak of that I'm sure that everyone has a preference towards something in particular. I know I have a fondness for all of the lights that I've been watching appear throughout the season.

My thanks in advance for your assistance in this distraction.

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Is this your way of asking for a tour of my studio?

I could be more subtle about that if you prefer.

Well met. I suppose we can meet outside the Kaneda Building and go from there. My studio honestly isn't far from the school itself.

Is there a time that is convenient for you?

You're the student. I feel like I should be asking YOU that.

A fair point. Is tonight inconvenient?

Not at all. I'll have to clean the place up a bit first, but hopefully you don't mind a bit of controlled chaos.

I can forgive an artist for some controlled chaos. Is seven a good time?

Perfect. I shall meet you then.

[When the time comes to meet up, Biffy walks up only a minute or two late. Fashionably late is still a thing if one were to ask him, after all. Still, he acts as if that isn't the case as he offers the man a smile when he sees him, easily able to recognize him.]

Thank you for meeting with me and for this tour you're about to give me. I've been looking forward to it all day now.

That excited, really? I have to say, I'm a little flattered. -Kasen hardly noticed the other man was late. Really, he wasn't sure why he was so nervous, anyways. This wasn't the first time he'd met a fellow artist and immediately showed them the studio. Maybe that last few months really had rattled him... Oh well. On with the networking, he supposed. An artist's life never stayed still for long.-

It's two blocks this way, down that street. -He gestured.- A short walk. In the meantime, how about you tell me a bit more about yourself and your own art, hmm?

Of course. I'm currently twenty-two and have been studying music since I was a small child. My family was able to afford one of the finest schools in Spain to allow me to focus on this and I confess that it is quite the passion of mine.

[He clearly has no problem talking about his love of music with people.]

I remember being taken to church when I was little and hearing the choir sing. The music was beautiful and my mother used to tell me it took days to get me to stop humming the songs. After that I started piano lessons and that's been my focus since. Though I do still enjoy vocal performance as well.

The brightest passions seem to start at a young age. Most of the artists I work with are young, too. Do you have a preference for secular or for more religious music, since you mentioned it was the church that first cultivated your interests?

Secular. I confess I don't really believe in God personally. Though there is something very beautiful about religious music as well.

[One doesn't have to believe in the message to appreciate it, after all.]

Agreed... Have you any spirituality at all?

I would say it's more accurate to say that I'm still deciding. I can see why people believe a greater power helped to inspire all the beauty in the world but I'm not as sure of what to believe in.

[He shrugs some.]

And you? Do you believe in some greater power?

My family would visit the shrines on holidays, and we had a small shrine for my great grandfather in one part of the house, but we weren't what I'd call devout...

But, I do think some Shinto spiritual sensibility has guided my art. Feeling the soul of things... appreciation of that soul... That helps one shape truly great art, I think.

I like that. I feel I agree with that as well.

[He gives him a warm smile. The man is interesting to talk to, he'll give him that. Then again, he can say that most artists are and it's why he enjoys talking to them the most.]

Ah, here we are... -They reached a relatively non-descriptive building with a gated driveway. Kasen quickly moved to a keypad to punch in a code, a buzzer going off before the gate began to slowly slide open.-

Kaneda Studio. The one in the school is Nosada Studio. -Kasen continued to the building's door, pulling out his keys as he motioned for Biffy to follow.-

[He's tempted to tease him about the fact that he can now visit anytime he likes since the man wasn't really hiding the code but he decides to behave himself and just follow after him.]

Is the Nosada Studio yours as well? Though I imagine for more educational purposes rather than personal ones.

Two studios, five galleries, and one seat on the Board of Directors for the Recolle Museum of Fine Art... -Door open! He had way too many keys... It was also worth noting that nothing about his tome seemed like bragging or ego.-

I keep *very* busy. It's a wonder I find time to work on my own creations any more.

[Don't mind him looking to get a sneak peak over his shoulder before the tour has even started...]

You are a busy man! Really it's a wonder you find time for anything at all with all of that to do.

It does... strain my social life a bit, I guess.

-There was a hallway leading from the door to the actual studio itself, a significantly large open space covered in various projects and works, many of them only half finished. Noted among them were several portraits of the same statue-esque black haired... woman? maybe? as well as a large canvas on the floor that was mostly covered in black with a single white splat in the lower center.

The rest were largely impressionistic landscapes, but also some of the newer ones were almost like woodblock paintings, clearly Japanese in aesthetic, as well as what appeared to be several attempts at Japanese style flower arrangement.-

I've been... trying to get back to my cultural roots, lately.

[He takes the time to look over the works, studying each in turn. They're beautiful to say the least. The woman looks familiar though. Isn't that...Ms. Hirata's son?

The things one knows when dedicated to following the fashion world.]

Your works are beautiful. What is this one?

[He means the black canvas.]

... That one isn't mine. -His response is somewhat solemn.-

There was a young man who... needed a way to express his feelings about death.

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