I hated art class as a kid. I was one of those book-smart kids who would rather have done math problems than draw pictures or play games in the gym. But one thing in art class that I thought was pretty cool was painting ceramic figurines. We would use paints and glazes that would react to the extreme heat of the kiln and create this beautiful sheen over the ceramic. I always found it interesting because before the figurine would go into the kiln, the paint was rather dull and ordinary. Once the paint went through the fire, however, its true beauty would come out.