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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 6A
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1997
EVENTS • ENTERTAINMENT • ISSUES • MUSIC • ART
Standing nude in front of an art class isn't as intimidating as it sounds unless you consider fainting and inadvertently flashing the class intimidating. One University of Kansas student shares her experience
In The Flesh
STORY BY JENNIFER CURRY
Kansan correspondent
ART BY LISA TUCKEL
"C' mon, baby, take it off," said one of a handful of the college boys with beer-heavy breath at a small party.
Another said, "I got 10 bucks right here—that should take care of about an hour and a half."
My friend tried to shrug off my glare. She didn't think the guys would become so anxious when she had told them that I posed nude for art classes.
I am normally open about my job. I'm not embarrassed, and it's fun to watch people's reactions when I tell them.
But this was the first time anyone's reaction was irritating — except maybe my mother's.
A semester and new boyfriend later, the idea crept up again when I was working as a correspondent at "The University Daily Kansan." I thought it would make an excellent first-hand story.
I wasn't quite sure that I really wanted to pose. The thought of being naked in front of so many people was intimidating. I decided to drop the idea because of my own doubts and my boyfriend's discomfort.
Although the "Kansan" editors liked the idea, its reception at the School of Fine Arts was not encouraging. The school thought the modeling story had been overdone.
"I'm sorry," I said to the guys. "I only pose for artists."
I think they saw me as just another annoying journalism student to put off — until I said I would pose.
Judith McRae, the professor who handles the modeling, made me an offer. If I would pose for one month, she would let me write the story. She said it would take me at least a month to get a good idea of what modeling was like. Because wasn't as eager to commit to a whole month, I decided to sit in on a class.
O
I didn't think much about what it meant to pose nude until the first time I was in the models' changing room. Then the realization came to me that I would be naked in front of a large group of people. I panicked.
After observing a Life Drawing course, I spoke with a model me to give it a try. But it was watching the artists at work the
I'd never placed myself in such a revealing and vulnerable position in a public place. These unfamiliar men and women would be scruinizing and documenting all the imperfections of my body.
I tried to calm down as I undressed and put on my robe, but my hands shook. I forced myself out of the dressing room by reminding myself how much I had talked the whole thing up. I knew it was impossible to back out.
I discovered two things that first night
I learned that taking your clothes off in front of other people isn't hard. After the rush of anxiety, I felt surprisingly relaxed, but I noticed that the artists had drawn me with an intense look on my face. In later drawings, I noticed my expression became more relaxed.
I also learned that modeling was tougher than it looked.
"Sit or stand." he said drvly.
At the beginning of the class, I told my instructor it was my first time. I asked him if he could recommend some poses.
I sat in the chair for the first 20-minute pose. During the nextpose, I stood. I had no idea what to do, and in a three-hour class you have to come up with several poses.
Posing was an aspect of modeling that I'd never considered. I was so preoccupied with being nude that I hadn't thought about poses.
Because I was naked, I tried to pose with my legs closed. I tried to avoid positions that caused those little rolls of skin and fat to crinkle up on my stomach.
I slowly lost my self-consciousness — I had to. There aren't many interesting positions that avoid rolls and spreading your legs.
Once, after finishing a long pose, the instructor addressed the class while I remained on the stand. I felt something poking my foot, so I lifted it inward to examine it. As soon as I dropped my foot, I realized I had unintentionally provided the students with a very intimate view. I was a little embarrassed, but I had flashed them with so little thought, I realized I had overcome my fears.
The job isn't that exciting. Most of the time I find myself trying not to doze off. Once, while posing on a mattress, I did fall asleep. Later an artist told me it was one of his favorite poses.
Staying still for 45 minutes is not only boring, it's physically straining.
One day I locked my elbows and cut off my circulation. I had felt light-headed and had asked the professor if I could cut the pose short —just before I lost consciousness and hit the floor. I awoke a minute or so later, naked on the studio floor. Thankfully, the professor covered me up while I recovered.
The job isn't that exciting.Most of the time I find myself trying not to doze off.
Even though word spread about the incident, I was spared some embarrassment. A few days before, a male model posing on a ladder had lost consciousness and fallen. That made me feel less conspicuous.
My freshman year somebody said he had heard that the School of Fine Arts paid about $10 an hour for models. Christmas was approaching, and funds were running low. My parents didn't want me to work during my freshman year, but the spending money they provided wasn't always enough. I had tried selling plasma and had blacked out both times, so I needed to find another source of income
Here's how it all began.
Modeling seemed like it would be intriguing and a good source of money. But my boyfriend wasn't enthusiastic about the idea.
"You're not serious," he said.
He never asked me not to model, but he sweetly offered to give me money to buy Christmas gifts.
was interesting to watch the students create such different interpretations of the same model. One artist would draw a detailed and realistic sketch, while another artist might create colorful cubist shapes.
The artist's perceptions of the model varied, as well. Each artist saw different shapes, colors and textures.
It made me excited about becoming involved in the artistic process.
"I can't believe you would jeopardize your future like this," was all she said.
They did not see any difference between posing for art students and posing for "Playboy" or "Penthouse."
Mom was very quiet at first. I didn't know what to think. She remained calm, but I could tell she was upset.
I tried to introduce it into a casual conversation with my parents. I figured it was better that they heard it from me rather than reading it in the "Kansan." I made sure to mention how well I was doing in my classes before I brought up the subject.
Between the time of my decision to pose and my first day, I told everyone about modeling because I loved to see people's reactions. The reactions fell into three categories.
My parents said posing would inhibit my career.
I tried to explain that figure modeling was accepted by society.
Most people thought it was cool. They said I was using my healthy body image to destroy social barriers.
My mom was furious that I would behave in such an unladylike manner. She was positive that the male art students would pass the drawings of me among their friends as if they were pornography.
I was more concerned with my mother's reaction.
"I think you are really brave," one male friend e-mailed me. "Seriously, I've been thinking about this. There are so few genuine expressions of bravery anymore."
My dad never said anything about my posing. I'm not sure if it's because he is more concerned about the effects he thought it would have on my career or if the situation made him uncomfortable.
I thought that was laying it on a little thick.
I noticed that when I told some men, their eyes would widen. Then they'd look me over. I hope it was an unconscious reaction.
Some people thought I was crazy.
They rolled their eyes.
It became an issue we did not discuss. To this day, my modeling is a subject my family does not talk about.
have time to think about the fact that they beaked. The artists I talked to said they viewed the model as an object. My friend said that when the model was on the stand, he saw her as just another tool to use for his art.
No artist has ever made me feel uncomfortable. If anyone did, I would have been allowed to leave the class. Artists view my nakedness with detachment. I am not some naked chick who art students want to check out.
The drawings aren't about my nudity; they are about the artists' talent.
In between poses, the class takes short breaks. This is my favorite part of the job. I put on my robe and walk around and look at what the artists have drawn. Every sketch is unique. The drawing is of my body, but it is the artist's perceptions and impressions that are recorded.
I serve merely as a catalyst.
Speech
Ray Bradbury gets electric at Lied Center
Prominent author tells tale of childhood experience about running from death
BY RACCHLEL DETWEILER
Kansan staff writer
A crowd of young boys gathered around the carnival freak and watched as 1 billion volts of electricity traveled from the electric chair into the man's body.
A 12-year-old Ray Bradbury stood with the other boys and stared at the man, who should have died from electrocution.
Mr. Electrical then singled out Bradbury. He laid a sword on his nose and told him to live forever.
Bradbury
Bradbury, a science
fiction writer of more than 500 published works, told stories about living forever, enthusiasm and love to a crowd of about 1,900 people at the Lied Conference Fridav night.
The day after being touched by the electrified man, death loomed in Bradbury's mind as he and his family drove to his uncle's wake. He saw the carnival out of the window of his dad's car.
He got out and ran.
"I was running away from death and running toward life," Bradbury said. "I was running toward electricity."
He said that his experience with Mr. Electrical on Labor Day Weekend in 1932 had changed his life and that since then, he had thrown himself into his passions.
"It has to be mad," Bradbury said. "It has to be beautiful. It doesn't matter what's the subject. You have to wake up every morning and feel like you want to live forever."
Find love, then live from the gut, Bradbury said. People with a love — or multiple loves — have a mission when waking up each morning. By filling each day with tasks dedicated to people, get to know themselves and can go to bed feeling accomplished.
He said that throughout his life he had been filled with enthusiasm for many different subjects.
Bradbury's passion has led him to write every day for the past 65 years and to produce a novel in nine hours with a loaned typewriter in a university of California at Los Angeles library.
His nine-hour novel became "Fahrenheit 451," his first published work.
Sarah Pugh, Omaha, Neb., sophomore, agreed that it was important to write every day.
"You cannot withhold anything," Pugh said. "You must take what's in your head and get it out — whether it's writing or music or dance."
Bradbury told the writers in the audience that if they wanted to write with guts, they should find other writers that mirrored their lives or they should make lists of their top 10 passions.
He said his search for passion had led him to dig through library books blindly looking for mirrors of his life. While he breathed in the books' scents, he found his life's metaphors, he said.
"Each of us here tonight is a compacted bundle of metaphors you haven't even begun to examine vet." Bradbury said.
After the experience with Mr. Electricity, he lost his fear of the future and of death. At one point in his life, when a psychic had predicted the end of the world, he and his brother sat on a hill, ate ham-and-pickle sandwiches and waited for the end.
"At 5 o'clock, sore, put out with God, we threw up and went home," Bradbury said. "I've never believed in the end of the world since then."
His fear of the end of the world behind him, Bradbury writes science fiction. Science fiction can address current issues in an abstract and entertaining manner, he said.
Clark Massey, Plano, Tex., senior, said that he was disappointed that Bradbury's message could not be personalized because too many people wanted to meet Bradbury and to get his signature.
Student Union Activities and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences sponsored the free event. Bradbury received $10,000 to give the lecture.
Bradbury signed books after the lecture.