Art - Year 1, week 3: How To Value An Artwork?

Sunray sat at a desk in the library and stared at her homework paper. The price of an artwork? She'd seen art before, but Mantis Hive's main feature was its library. She was sure that the library had some art, but she'd never gone far enough into it to find out. She'd been to Jewel Hive once, to visit some annoying cousins, so... wait!

She did know the answer to this question!

She grabbed a pencil and wrote,'I think that I would be able to tell the price of an artwork, because one of my cousins in Jewel Hive is an artist and held me prisoner with one of their boring lectures for half an hour. They said that the materials of an artwork nearly always define how expensive an artwork will be. I think I would be able to tell the materials of a collage or the type of wood used for a carving, but I would never be able to tell the kind of pain that a painter used. I've always used the cheapest paint I could find in my carvings.'

She grinned. One question down! 

The next question was a little smudged, because she'd just dumped it in her bag with a water bottle or something. She squinted at the paper.

"Do you consider exa-exorbitant the prices paid for some works?"

Hmmm.

She thought about that one. Exorbitant? That meant big, right? Hmm... her cousin had told her something about this, something about how they always put gold dust in their paintings to raise their value. She picked up her pencil again.

'I don't consider the prices paid for any artwork exorbitant, because there's always a reason for the price, even if we cannot see it.'

She looked at the last question and smiled. She could do this one. 

'The personal value of an artwork is extremely important. I remember the first carving I ever made. It looked like a dead walrus after it's been eaten and barfed out, but I still have it. I don't think i'd ever be able to let it go, no matter how much someone offered me for it.'

'In conclusion, the personal or emotional value of an artwork overrules everything else, no matter what the materials are, or if there's gold dust hidden in the paint.'


Sunray rolled up her homework and put it in her bag. One homework down, three to go.

 

Sources: https://wingsoffire.fandom.com/wiki/Mantis_Hive, my imagination