Artistry — A Vocabulary Story
A Flock of Paper Birds
Ifeoma's grandmother was coming to stay for a whole month, all the way from Lagos, and Ifeoma wanted the house to look wonderful.
She decided to fold paper birds. Lots of them. Enough to fill the front window. She even found a library book called The Artistry of Paper Folding, with a shiny crane on the cover.
Artistry means great creative skill, such as the skill of a painter, musician or dancer.
The first bird did not look much like a bird. Its wings were different sizes, and its beak pointed at the ceiling.
"What is it?" asked her brother Chidi.
"A bird," said Ifeoma.
Chidi turned it round slowly. "Is it a very surprised bird?"
Ifeoma tried again. And again. By the tenth bird, the wings matched. By the twentieth, the beaks were neat and pointed. By the thirtieth bird, there was real artistry in every fold, and Chidi had stopped making jokes and started asking how she did it.
She showed him the first fold, then the second, then the tricky one where the paper turns inside out. His first bird looked very surprised too.
Together they hung the birds on long threads across the front window. When the sun came through, the birds glowed red and gold and blue, and their shadows danced across the walls.
On Saturday, Grandma stepped through the front door and stopped. She looked up at the window for a long, quiet moment.
"Ifeoma," she said softly, "such artistry. Did you make all of these?"
"Chidi made the surprised one," said Ifeoma.
Grandma chuckled. "Every flock needs one," she said.
Word Definition
artistry
meaning
great creative skill, especially in art, music or performance
synonyms
skill · craftsmanship · creativity · talent · flair
antonyms
clumsiness · ineptitude · incompetence
example sentence
The dancers showed wonderful artistry in their performance.