Art Model Handbook

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I wrote last time about trying to change the world through figurative art. To do this, I depend on others – collaborators, if you will. Each of us is unique and we all express ourselves with our bodies. People carry their bodies differently, sculpting them as they desire, moving in a way that exhibits their true thoughts. Some of us appear to do this without effort, while others go to great lengths to create their own looks.

Although there is a part of me in each of my artworks, I depend on art models. I prefer to celebrate the beauty of the individual and work with as many people as I can. Because of this, I receive a lot of inquiries from people interested in becoming a work of art and have set up an information page about modeling for artists. Generally, art models works alone. While the artists who hire them can help, it is not the same as being trained by someone who personally knows the work.

Finally, there is a book created specifically for art models by an art model, Andrew Cahner. The Art Model's Handbook: The Naked Truth about Posing for Art Classes and Fine Artists is now available for only $16.95 via this site and Amazon.com (thank you for your help by supporting my blogging time and images)

This book is a great resource. Andrew defines art terms so a novice to the art world can walk into a studio feeling confident. He describes the classroom situation, as well as what it is like to work privately for fine artists. This very experienced art model tells you what to bring to a drawing session, how to come up with interesting poses, and what artists or art instructors are usually looking for. He also discusses photography, security, nudity concerns and costumes, and gives you resources on where to find work as an art model.

I am also honored because Andrew has included many images of artist’s work and our words, including my bronze “Against the Dying of the Light,” in which I hired three different models after I did my initial clay sketch from my imagination.

My favorite section of the book contains interviews with long-term professional art models. Andrew Cahner even interviewed the female model that changed the TV world when she became the first to pose truly nude on a television show! (Your hint is that it was on a well-known science-fiction show.)

Also of interest to artists and models is that on the Art Model’s Web site, there is a page listing Figure Drawing Open Studios, Workshops, and Continuing Education Classes in the United States and Canada. Use that page to find work or to draw wherever you happen to be! I look forward to accessing this page when I am traveling and needing to draw.

Really, this resource: it is about time!

The Art Model's Handbook: The Naked Truth about Posing for Art Classes and Fine Artists (Paperback)
by Andrew Cahner (Author)

Change the World

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I do not think I fully understood that I wanted to change the world (and in what way) until about eight years ago. Like most transitions perhaps, mine was a long, slow process, a series of events more than one life-altering one. I was thinking about this recently because someone sent me a quote (and true to my nature, I remember the concept, not the details) that said something to the effect that when a creative person is told “No,” it only motives her to work harder.

Does a person start out by thinking, “I will change the world”? I suspect we each just do what we feel passionately about until the path of past action leads to a clearly focused and more aware future. In my case, I loved creating art of the human form. Years ago, I could not put words to why I was doing what I was doing. But almost every composition I designed involved anatomy – truly the Grand Design and so worthy of respect and admiration.

However, my work has been barred from being exhibited in many places. I often heard the rule “No nudes!” Period. No argument. Although the public seemed enthusiastic about the “classiness” of my nudes when they were seen, many times I was not even given the opportunity to show my work to try to make it an exception to the rule.

Normally the person telling me this would say, “I personally do not have any problems with nudes, but my boss . . . (or the public - some faceless entity I could never speak with) made the decision in fear of a complaint . . .” In 2002, after hanging my exhibit, I was told, “It is against the law for us to censure your work, but we would like you to consider that 1, 2, and 3 (3 specific artworks named, all male nudes) might offend children who enter.” In other words, please censure yourself on the artworks that we are concerned about.

So, now, I know. I want to change the world. Corny but true: love can do this. Art is one of the ways in which we should be safe to explore our humanity. Shame and embarrassment are often misused. I am not depicting violence or hateful ideas. And I need to use the nude human form to remind us of the better qualities in ourselves. Here is my bronze titled “Infinite Love,” a composition of two human figures embedded inside of the mathematical symbol for Infinity. Enjoy.

Limestone and a Big Moth

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Today (yesterday now) I went to the Boneyard of Continental Cut Stone in Florence, Texas, to pick up a specifically cut piece of Cordova Crème limestone for my latest commission. It was unusually cold and windy. I guess the Fall Equinox did not wish to arrive unnoticed. And it was raining most of the morning, which is wonderful. Since sculpting was not likely to happen, it was a good day for me to run this errand and hope for a less-wet tomorrow.

The stone quarry is actually several hours away from Florence. The Boneyard is where the stone is cut for use by sculptors, but mostly contractors and builders. It is not unusual for natural stone to either not meet the specs of certain construction projects (holes/embedded shells/distracting grain lines) or get broken or cut wrong. In these cases, the less-than-perfect stone is set out in the Boneyard for people like me. I love searching there for unusual shapes and architectural treasures that I can use as a starting point for a stone carving.

I wanted to share a few images I snapped off today as I walked around the Boneyard. The last time I was here was when I met my friend Vasily Fedorouk on the access road of the IH-35 turnoff to Florence. He had just driven down from Chicago to teach a workshop at my place. We went “shopping” together to pick out the limestone we would supply our students. It was a fun day.

The purple thistle that you see here is an unusual variety (to me anyway). I found the purple and grey combination to be a bit irresistible today.


And to my delight, I saw this large yellow moth on a pile of cut stone tiles. Their bodies are bigger than locusts! Because I tend to leave open all the doors and windows of my home and studio for as long as I can every day, I often see a brown moth enter my kitchen and studio this time of year. But I had yet to see an obviously yellow one. I included my hand in the image so that you can clearly make out his size. Cool huh?



I also saw some pink limestone. It reminded me of someone’s strawberry poundcake. I was tempted to bite into it, but I generally do not prefer the taste of limestone. Too bad all I saw were these tiles and blocks too large for me to carry home on this day. But, hmmmm, it was a curious and yummy sight!

Madonnari Street Painting Italy Art Lecture

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Just a quick note to invite you to a short art lecture that I will be giving this Sunday around noon in Austin, Texas.
The topic is “My Life as One of the Madonnari (Street Painters in Italy)”

I will share images and stories of my experiences recreating art masterpieces from the Italian Renaissance and other periods of time and place. I will tell you some of the more humorous experiences with tourists, journalists, cops, and the Italian government. And, I will show you the work of many other street painters from my first competition in southern Italy.

The talk officially runs from noon until about 1:30 this Sunday. There will be at least one other speaker, artist Melanie Hickerson. I am looking forward to meeting her. I hope you will, too.

While you are there, check out the exhibit of over 65 artworks by artists in Austin’s groovin’ art scene.

"The 32nd Anniversary Exhibit & Reunion" (group exhibit)
Austin Visual Arts Association (AVAA)
Julia C. Butridge Gallery in the Dougherty Arts Center
1110 Barton Springs Road
Austin, Texas 78704 USA

Visit my art exhibition calendar.

P.S. We are still looking for a digital projector to help me easily display images from my Acer laptop. If you have one I may borrow, please contact me. Thank you.

Pastel Art Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

When I worked as a madonnara in Florence, Italy, there was always that start-up time while I prepared the street to accept my drawing for the day. I generally arrived with my backpack of pastels and other supplies and immediately set to work. And I would study my chosen composition for the day and examine the street space I would work in to determine where I wanted to position the face(s) in the drawing, trying to avoid holes or other textures that might be unappealing for my art. Then I would measure out the space and get started.

This is a necessary, but not particularly visually appealing part of my “performance.” However, I became fascinated watching other kinds of street performers do their preparation. Many of the more colorful artists do not want to wear their costumes from and to their homes when performing in centro. And so, they transform on-site in various ways.

You may remember that back in May 2009, I wrote about my friend “gReY, il mimo” I first noticed him outside of the Loggia dei Lanzi and Uffizi Galleria in 2006 while he was in transition from man to mime. And I could not get the image out of my head.

I guess I was always a sucker for a man in red shoes. And what color gReY wore that day against the stones of Florence!

Allora, I am thrilled to introduce you to my newest pastel painting:

“Il Mimo – Firenze, Italia”
16” x 12”
Pastel on PastelBord
$950 + $20 shipping (anywhere) + sales tax (6.75% in Texas only)

And a follow-up October 23, 2009:
Wow -- the judges awarded this pastel painting a position of finalist:
FineArtViews Painting Competition Winners (September 2009)
(http://contest.fineartstudioonline.com/winners/11)
cool, huh?

September 11 Art Therapy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Most everyone remembers how s/he heard about suicide terrorist pilots flying hijacked planes into the Twin Towers in New York. Instead of working outside alone at home, I was driving into Austin, Texas, for a conference with Michael Barnes of the Austin American-Statesman. He wanted to teach artists how to get his attention for art publicity in the newspaper.

In my car I had been listening to KGSR on the radio and thinking of other things, when my mind caught a strange phrase. I listened as the report of the first plane hitting a tower was announced and my first thought was, “That’s not funny,” as I almost simultaneously realized, “I am not listening to one of those funny stations. This is real.” The day did not get better.

On the morning of September 12, not knowing what else to do, I began some art therapy with wax. Like one of those people who cannot seem to tear themselves away from some horrible image, I kept the TV on all day and sculpted through my tears.

My father was shot down in Vietnam during that war (he was later rescued) and as a military brat, I dreaded that vision of uniforms at the door bearing the sad news of a lost love. At first I imagined having to be one of those people and telling thousands of families the horrible news, knowing that I would not have to say a thing, my mere uniformed presence would convey all. Then I realized that for an event like this, no one needed to knock on a door. People would be seeking out information about those close to the situation.

I cried an awful, physically painful cry as I imagined the kind of situation in which a person could decide that jumping out of a skyscraper was a better alternative to staying in it.


Naturally, my sculpted figure was raw. And, as luck would have it, I was scheduled for an art show in a church two weeks after September 11, 2001. I decided to create a plaster copy of my little wax and exhibit the piece. It turned out to be good therapy for a lot of people. We could not get the events out of our minds anyway and at the time, it was difficult to pretend nothing had happened and move on, as they say.

My plaster sculpture was later picked up from my studio by a Canadian woman who lost her sister in the towers. She borrowed it for a traveling exhibit of art and music titled the “Release of Souls.” I am not sure where that sculpture is now. But I later cast the sculpture into bronze, which is what you see here. The white patina represented the ashes that covered everyone that day.

I sent images of my wax “9-1-1” to several friends via e-mail, including my new friend Vasily Fedorouk in Seattle. Vasily responded almost immediately with an image of the granite sculpture that you see here. Reading and writing English was often a laborious project for my Ukrainian-born friend and his e-mails were mostly images. I was stunned to think that he was indeed the same as I was - using art for therapy, but my, . . . was he fast! Granite? Whoa.

Later, when we spoke in person, he told me that he did not create this stone carving as a result of September 11th. It was completed before. He has actually had two titles for this work: “History of Gene Code” and later “Infinity.” For him it was a composition about generations. However, after the towers fell, a friend visited him and told him that this sculpture fit and he sent it to me to share our mutual feelings.



Today I also want to share with you my newest marble carving. Oddly enough, the inspiration for her came directly from the events on September 11, 2001. And yes, I have been working on this sculpture off and on since at least 2002. She is titled “The Offering” and is about the strength and beauty of making oneself vulnerable.
See more images on my Web site:
http://www.borsheimarts.com/sculpture/2009/offeringmarble.htm

Can we change the world (for the better) with openness and strength - and creativity?

Learn More about The Release of Souls.

My Tribute to Vasily (1950-2009): http://www.borsheimarts.com/news/2009_09VasilyFedorouk.htm

AVAA 32nd Anniversary Art Exhibit

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I am feeling overwhelmed as I try to finish photographing my new marble sculpture and also write the Web pages and tribute to my friend Vasily.

In case I do not get my newsletter out in time, I just wanted to invite those I could to tomorrow evening’s (Wednesday, 9 September) art reception. I have one painting and one sculpture chosen in this exhibit that features over 65 artists, including guest artist Ray Donley.

I hope you will get a chance to see this exhibit. I will be at the reception on 9 September, as well as giving an art talk on September 20th.

"The 32nd Anniversary Exhibit & Reunion" (group exhibit)
Austin Visual Arts Association (AVAA)
Julia C. Butridge Gallery in the Dougherty Arts Center
1110 Barton Springs Road
Austin, Texas 78704 USA
Web site: http://www.avaaonline.org

4 - 28 September 2009
Reception: 9 Sept. Wednesday (AFTER Labor Day), 6 - 8 p.m.
Artist Talk: 20 September, starts at noon