Students pose nude for art classes

For most people, being nude in the middle of a classroom under the probing eyes of their peers seems like something from a bad dream.

For students who model nude in the fine arts division's Drawing III and IV classes, however, stripping down at school proves to be a familiar, fun and profitable experience.

"It seems like it would be a very scary and weird thing, which it's not," senior Julie Ferdman said. "It's not something that everybody does, and it's interesting."

Ferdman said she began modeling this semester out of curiosity.

"I wanted to try it, to experience it, to figure out what it was all about for myself," she said.

The pay wasn't a big factor in her decision to model, Ferdman said.

"It was something I wanted to do whether I got paid for it or not," she said.

Aaron Fine, assistant professor of art, said the division raised the wage to $7.50 per hour a few years ago to reflect the challenging and unusual nature of nude modeling.

"It's hard work," Fine said. "It's asking something pretty extraordinary of somebody."

Fine, who hires the models for his drawing classes, said he didn't want to increase the wage so much that the wrong people volunteered.

"I still feel like I get really good models who are the right people for the job," Fine said. "I wouldn't want to offer so much that anybody would do it even if they weren't comfortable."

Fine said he looks for students who are mature and secure enough with their bodies to deal professionally with the idea of being on display.

"The right students tend to select themselves for the job," he said. "It tends to be someone who is going to find the experience rewarding and find that they have a better sense of themselves."

Fine said he looks for diversity when choosing models. He said this is difficult because the budget allows only for student models, who are usually young and healthy.

Junior Rory Rhorerton said he began modeling because it was the best-paid job for students on campus, and he thought it would be easy.

"I thought it would be a fun thing that not everyone has done before," Rhorerton said. "Plus, I get paid to expose myself."

Rhorerton said he enjoys modeling.

"I don't really have art skills, but it's kind of like I'm contributing to art in a way," he said. "And also, it's amusing to be like, 'Hey, I'm naked, but it's OK, and they're paying me to do it.'"

Fine said the practice of using nude models is a widely accepted teaching method in almost all universities.

"People have been doing this for centuries," he said. "It's not like some new, weird thing."

Teaching with human models is valuable for a few reasons, Fine said. "Figures are one of the most challenging things to draw, so that makes it one of the best ways to learn to draw," he said.

Fine said using human models provides the best method for teaching students to examine their subjects in a deeper way.

"We have a strong emotional connection to the figure," he said. "It's a wonderful way to learn to make expressive art."

Fine said everyone in the class, including the model, feels a little uncomfortable with the experience at the beginning.

He said he makes sure the students know their apprehension is normal. Fine said he advises them to use the polite terms for body parts and treat everyone in the situation with dignity.

"What's amazing is that you think you're going to be too nervous, too weirded out," he said. "But as soon as you start drawing, it's so fascinating and so challenging that your mind just gets overwhelmed."

Senior Abby McMillen said she doesn't feel embarrassed about drawing nudes.

"It's such a difficult task to accurately draw the figures that it's too distracting to think about if it's awkward or not," she said.

She said capturing the details of a real person is a tough task.

"It's hard because everybody knows what a human looks like, so if you get the proportions wrong, it's really obvious," McMillen said.

Rhorerton said he doesn't feel too self-conscious when he's modeling.

"It's kind of weird that people are looking at you as an art object instead of a person," he said. "So it's a different kind of naked. It's not something I really get embarrassed about."

Fine said he usually tells the models to do something goofy in their first pose to break the ice.

"There's a lot of performance in what they do," he said. "It's sort of theatrical."

The models must challenge themselves to be creative with their poses especially at the beginning of each class, Fine said. He said the first five or 10 minutes of the period consist of gesture drawings that require the models to change poses every 10 to 15 seconds.

Fine said he encourages the models to convey a story, sport or dance through their movements.

After the gesture drawings, the models do a couple of shorter poses, followed by one or two longer drawings, he said.

Ferdman said she likes doing the spontaneous action positions at the beginning of class.

"It's a lot of fun, and it's thinking on your feet," she said.

Holding some of the positions for the longer drawings can be difficult, Ferdman said.

Rhorerton said he tries not to think about much when he's modeling because it distracts him.

"I just kind of try to space out for a while," he said.

Both Rhorerton and Ferdman said they have fallen asleep while posing.

Fine said many people might be opposed to the idea of nude modeling at first because they think it contradicts their moral or religious convictions.

"But when people learn why we do this, they start to understand that it's professional," he said. "It's not part of some sort of strange or bad behavior."