March 4, 1998
Nude models bare the facts on posing
"After a while it's not about the nudity; it's the shapes, the contours, the shading. You become just an object," one model says.
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Would you take your clothes off in a room full of people?
And then stand still for nearly an hour so they can draw you?
Inconceivable to most, perhaps, but all part of a day's work for some local figure models. With regular nude modeling jobs at Northwestern Michigan College and Interlochen Arts Academy and for a group of private artists sponsoring "Figure on Sundays" at the Traverse Area Arts Council, figure models keep busy keeping still.
City resident Sheryl has modeled sporadically for six years. She was inspired to try it after intensively training for an amateur bodybuilding contest. She finds nude modeling a confidence builder and a way to be involved in the arts, though she is not an artist herself.
Sheryl believes she is more open to nude modeling because her mother is an art historian from Europe, where nudity is less of a taboo than in the United States. But even she felt those butterflies the first time she dropped her robe.
"I was nervous at first, thinking, 'I'm naked and they're going to see this and that,'" said Sheryl, whose day job is with a local Internet service provider. "After a while it's not about the nudity; it's the shapes, the contours, the shading. You become just an object."
Being a good figure model has nothing to do with looks or body type, both models and artists agree. What matters is being able to stand, sit, crouch or recline in a pose without moving for the time required - one-minute to 45-minute poses over a three-hour session. No scratching, no shifting, no twitching; just hold that pose, please, through any pain or discomfort. If you must move, return to the same position you started from.
"It can be very painful holding a pose for as long as you can," said Bruce Peterson, a figure model for 12 years. "It is a lot of work. You see the sweat rolling down - that's how hard you are working."
A video producer for tctv2 public access television, city resident Peterson studied art in college and began modeling part time after a stint as an exotic dancer. Peterson has been a model for photographers and sculptors as well, though his favorite modeling is for life drawing.
"I love figurative work," he said. "You're immortalized. I've got pieces all over my apartment of me and other people. Sometimes I trade modeling for the work."
Peterson has found over the years that being a figure model is much more than simply being an inert object. Good models work with the artists to find or deepen a pose, and both sides can feel the creative energy exchanged during a session. Peterson continues modeling because he loves that synergy, he said, where the artists "ooh" and "aah" then start drawing furiously when he hits a pose just right.
"It is exciting when you inspire the artist and their eyes light up," he said. "You can feel the connection between the artist and model."
The human body has long fascinated artists, and effectively capturing it is the pinnacle of artistic achievement, said Peggy Cove, who helped organize this year's "Figure on Sunday" life drawing sessions. The loose-knit group of about 20 artists has met monthly at the Traverse Area Arts Council Gallery for more than 10 years.
"You don't just look at the skin, you look inside at the skeletal structure," Cove said. "It is a challenge for the artist to take the body type that is there and make a drawing of it. It is much different from drawing still life or scenery."
Artist John Goss of Williamsburg recently returned to "Figure on Sundays" after taking a break for a few years. A successful sculptor - he made the deer in front of Munson Medical Center - Goss still likes to draw and paint to keep his art flexible.
"Figure drawing trains your eye to see things, shapes, lengths, widths," Goss said. "It's just a form of art."