MALE ARTIST’S MODEL TELLS ALL

I had never thought about being a celebrity. I had thought even less about being an artist’s model. But when Connie Vlahoulis asked me to be a “celebrity model” for the portrait class that was being taught at the Conn-Artist Studio by Ruth Goldsborough, how could I refuse? I donned my Cornell University doctoral robes for the occasion. As I am not now in academia, I have little occasion to display the European style velvet cap, the rich red robe with blue chevrons and the hood with its flash of carnelian and white. Playing “dress up” was part of the attraction for me.

Ruth Goldsborough’s instructional style is an interesting mix of advice, demonstration, exhortation and example. She spent much of the class time roaming the room and giving specific advice to each of the seven students about their unique problems. I heard “If you put the eyes that far apart, you will not be able to get his shoulders on the page,” “think about the collar” and “just a bit of color in the eye,” and on my short breaks was able to see the value of her advice. She was heading off problems before they arose. Her advice is sometimes combined with demonstration, through a sketch quickly done in pencil to show a student some aspect of composition that he has missed.


Occasionally, she teaches by exhortation. She held up a drawing of a skull and inquired whether all of the students had done their homework of drawing that skull. She pointed out that it is the skull that gives the shape and character to the face, and that if you don’t thoroughly understand the bones, you can’t really paint a face.

Despite spending so much time in student interaction, Ruth was also teaching by example, with her own easel and her own portrait underway. She used pastel to produce a nearly finished work during the three-hour class. The students were allowed to use whichever medium they wished. Photographs were taken from the locations of each of the seven student easels, so that reference images of the model could be taken home in order to finish the student work.

How do I react to my first experience as an artist’s model? Some other recent “celebrity models” found holding a pose for fifteen minutes at a time for three hours to be difficult, so I planned ahead. Knowing that I would have to hold my head and eyes still, I needed something to think about that would not require frequent reading. I took with me a poem that I could ponder, a sestina that I am not satisfied with. While it is not clear that I will ever be satisfied with my efforts in this form, I made some progress: I decided to replace one of the six key words with a different word. The thought that went into the poetry kept me in an almost-meditative state, and I was complimented on my posing. Whether or not I am successful as a celebrity, at least I am successful as an artist’s model.

For more about courses at the Conn-Artist Studio, 611 Greenville Highway, Hendersonville NC, consult their website at http://www.conn-artist.com/

I should mention Goldsborough’s other credentials. A painter since her teens, she has developed a sure technique with pencil, charcoal, oil, watercolor or pastel. After supporting herself by her art for over a half century, she is still available as a portrait painter, being one of the 75 artists represented by The Portrait Source, located in “Little Rainbow Row” at 2760 Greenville Highway, Flat Rock, NC (http://www.theportraitsource.com/). Ruth is probably the only artist in that lineup who is 91 years old.

© 2009 Edward C. McIrvine

Arts Spectrum column #438 

June 19, 2009