Nude posing benefits models and art classes

Standing nude in a classroom full of scrutinizing eyes may seem like a nightmare to some students, but to others, it has become a way to make good money.

The Georgia College & State University Art Department has been hiring nude models for the past four years for upper-level drawing and painting classes taught by Assistant Art Professors Bill Fisher and Valerie Aranda.

Fisher said nude models are a fundamental part of the curriculum of his drawing classes, and the opportunity for artists to draw the human body is critical to artistic development.

“Crucial to art students’ whole university experience is drawing the human body,” Fisher said. “It’s the most physically and psychologically complex and powerful form to work with.”

Fisher began advertising for the department’s need for both male and female models a few months ago and said he is impressed with the amount of responses received from interested students and staff

“I choose the models on a first come, first serve basis and we’ve had about 40 people interested,” Fisher said. “We’re trying to get everyone who applied to model at least once, if time permits. We’ve had so many different body types and different personalities, and they’re giving us really strong results in the classes.”

Fisher said his Drawing III class draws primarily nude, or undraped, models, while his Drawing II class draws both draped and undraped. He gives his students unfamiliar materials to draw with, such as charred oak kindling and lumps of homemade charcoal, to help them focus of the manipulation of the media on their papers.

The job, which pays $15 an hour for nude models and $7.50 an hour for draped models, requires them to pose for 3 hours each class. The money to pay the models comes from the student lab fees.

Caroline Smith, a sophomore community health major, has been posing nude for Fisher’s classes throughout the semester. She said the money she makes from the modeling job helps her pay for food and gas for her car.

“This job is definitely worth the money and it’s really easy [for me]. It’s actually fun and it’s not like I’m sitting at a desk,” Caroline Smith said. “This kind of job really opens doors. You can do it anywhere later in life, like at graduate school, and it’s a great opportunity for the models and the art students.”

According to Caroline Smith, at the beginning of each class, the models do several one-minute poses called “gestures,” which help the artists warm up as the students try to quickly sketch the actions of the figures. During the second hour, the models hold four sustained poses for 20 minutes each. For the last hour, the models must stay still

so the students can concentrate on more in-depth, detailed pieces.

“I don’t really get bored while I’m sitting there,” Caroline Smith said. “The class is talking, so I don’t feel awkward. I don’t even really feel nude. I just focus on keeping still.”

Fisher said Caroline Smith is skilled at what she does.

“Anyone who has tried to hold a pose for even a few minutes will realize it takes physical strength, concentration and the ability to be highly creative.”

Theresa Stegall, senior art major, said the class is more preoccupied about the quality of their work than the fact that the models are nude.

“We’re coming at this from an academic view. It’s not at all sexual,” Stegall said. “We’re just studying something that’s been studied for centuries.”

Stegall said she feels lucky to be in an environment where actual nude models are posing.

“Drawing a real model is better [than drawing a picture or a statue] because it’s the real thing,” Stegall said. “It’s like, you can read a book about something, but when you go to a real place, it’s so much better. That’s how it is with drawing. The real thing is always better.”

Fisher said most students experience “something of the mindset” when they begin their first drawing sessions.

“The nudity of the subject becomes irrelevant as the student struggles with the arrangement of light and dark, contour, texture, attitude and atmosphere,” Fisher said.

Tallulah Smith, junior art major, said having a real person in the room to draw helps her to learn better.

“To be an artist, you need to know how to draw the human body and the human face,” Tallulah Smith said. “Nude models are very crucial. We’re human beings, so we should know how to draw and replicate a variety of human forms.”

Fisher said it is incumbent on him to teach something more than the ability to draw, and the figure drawing classes teach the students many life-long lessons that they can apply to many other aspects of their lives.

“It helps them with their ability to focus over long periods of time and to channel their energy into productive activity,” Fisher said. “It also helps them to explore their levels of self confidence and to feel more connected to the physical world.”

Fisher said one of the most appropriate ways to explain why nudity is such a great conjunction with art classes is best explained by artist Ariano Cavalcanti de Paula.

“The true essence of art is beauty, joined with the sensuality of the nude, often confused with vulgarity. Nudity is always disquieting, instigating and surprising,” de Paula said. “So the artist, both in painting and in sculpture, in dancing or in photography, discovers in the nude a profound link with the pureness of being. Sensuality stimulates creativity in every sense. Sensuality also evokes love, passion and the creation of man. This is why nudity moves us so profoundly.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 4 2005. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry