F O R MA R T I S T I C A N N U A L

CHC CURATOR OF HIS OWN CREATIONS JAMES PATTERSONP 35

CRAFTING THE MUSIC RENEE FITEP 84

TRANSFORMING GUNS INTO ART

SUDARSAN RAGHVANP 103

LIFE DRAWING CELEBRATES

HUMAN BODY BOB W. ANDERSON

P 62

NOVEMBER 2012VOL 23ISSUE #7

ARTISTIC ANNUAL 762

L I FEDRAWINGCELEBRATESHUMANBODY

by Bob W. Anderson

FORM 63

L I FEDRAWINGCELEBRATESHUMANBODY

ARTISTIC ANNUAL 764

Life drawing, which is also known as

figure illustration, is depicting the hu-

man body in its most natural state: vul-

nerable.

Because the exposed human body

presents technical demonstration

challenges like form, structure and

foreshortening, life drawing is a popu-

lar method of training among artists on

both the amateur and professional level.

Aside from presenting the opportunity

to practice and learn new skills, like

creating the illusion of an object re-

treating into the background, the nude

model also allows the artist to offer in-

dividual expression on human nature.

Regardless of innate ability or back-

ground in the use of complicated art

techniques, everyone who attends a

life drawing class will seed a new skill

or further development of an already

proven aptitude, said Linda Reeves.

She attends and serves as a contact per-

son for the life drawing workshop held at

the Cherokee Arts Center, 212 Water St.

“Yes, there are some who have the

natural ability, but I think anybody

can develop some sort of skill,” she

said. “We don’t have an instructor. It’s

not actually a class. Basically, it’s an

artists’ [help group]. No matter what

their ability is, we get together to

perfect our talents and practice our

talent by drawing the human form.”

Workshop participant Jerald Pe-

tersen said artists around the world

have been sketching models to help

develop their skills and ability.

“You don’t get many opportunities [to

have access to a life drawing class],”

he said. “That’s what artists do,

[though, is practice their art.] You

can do it a number of ways. There

are various approaches, various

schools about how to do it. [There’s]

the old classical way of teaching, so

in the modern stuff, you get strange

results sometimes.”

The Cherokee Arts Center has been

identified as a place where artists

on every level can come together to

share in the experience of imagina-

tive creation. The life drawing work-

shop, which is held at the center

every other Friday night when the

group is able to meet, underscores

what the building represents.

“We get together to perfect our talents and practice our talent by drawing the human form.”

FORM 65

ARTISTIC ANNUAL 766

FORM 67

Because the center is allowing the

group to use the facility for the

workshop, Reeves explained it is

necessary for a minimum of six art-

ists to conduct the 7 to 9 p.m. fig-

ure-rendering cooperative. Fee for

the class is $5.

“We pay the model $15 an hour, and

we meet for two hours. If we can

have at least six there, then we have

enough money to pay the model,”

she said. “If we have seven people

come to the class, for example, then

we save the money for when have

a less amount. We’re trying to meet

every other Friday, but it depends

on the group and any other factors

that could create a reason why we

couldn’t meet.”

The life drawing workshop has

male and female models who serve

as the group’s body prompt. First-

timers to the workshop need not en-

tertain thoughts of embarrassment

or shyness due to the bare nature of

the class, Reeves said.

“The body is actually a beautiful

thing. It’s only the narrow-minded

who make it nasty,” she said. “That

doesn’t even cross your mind be-

cause you’re looking at the design

or shadow of the figure. Of course, we

cover up the windows so people can’t

peak in, but we’ve never had any

problems with something like that.”

During the two-hour session, the mod-

el will provide 10 one-minute poses,

two five-minute poses, two 10-minute

poses and one 20-minute pose with

each series segmented with group

breaks to allow the model to rest and

adjust for the next pose.

“Sometimes they will lie down or sit.

When we’re doing the one-minute

poses, the models will turn their arms

in different positions. If they’re lean-

ing on an elbow, they have to be in a

very comfortable position to hang on

to that pose for [an extended] length

of time,” Reeves said. “Right now,

we’re talking about doing a model

with clothes. You would try to make

the presence of the body known under

the clothes with factors like wrinkles

and shadows. Like a paper doll.”

“The body is actually a beautiful thing.”

ARTISTIC ANNUAL 7130

LIFE DRAWING CELEBRATES HUMAN BODYBob W. Anderson

CRAFTING THE MUSICRenee Fite84

62

103

35 CHC CURATOR OF HIS OWN CREATIONS James Patterson

TRANSFORMING GUNS INTO ARTSudarsan Raghvan

C O N T E N T S