From Life: The Classical Art of Figure Drawing
Oct. 6—PLATTSBURGH — The human figure has been a muse for artists since time immemorial, and now North Country's hidden artists get a chance to draw in "From Life: The Classical Art of Figure Drawing," an interactive exhibit by the Strand Life Drawing Group.
This exhibition opens Friday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. at The Strand Center Gallery, 23 Brinkerhoff St., Plattsburgh.
FIRST FRIDAY
The opening reception occurs during First Friday Plattsburgh and will feature a live model to encourage attendees to draw alongside drawing instructor David Monette, a professional illustrator and author.
"From Life" is co-curated by artists Shaun O'Connell and Cynthia Root and features their artwork as well as Strand Life Drawing Group artists: Gray Adkins, Naomi Bradshaw, Gharan Burton, Vini Fallica, Nancy Gray Fischer, Kaitlyn Jubert, Gilles LaMarche, June Levenson, Megan Manson, Keelin Murphy, Shaun O'Connell, Tim Palkovic, Cynthia Root, Wind Sop and Yongxia Tan.
LONG TRADITION
Life drawing began a long, long time ago in Plattsburgh.
"I brought life drawing to the Strand in 2010, I think it was," Root said.
"Life drawing has always been going on in other places for awhile in Plattsburgh."
The Open Studio is held Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m
"Most of the work that's in the show was done in these two-hour sessions," Root said.
"They're sketches. They are not finished pieces that have been worked on for a long time. They are all work that was done during the two-hour session. There's a wide level of expertise in the class. It's a lot of fun. There's no instructor. It's an open studio. We get models from the college. We get models from all over."
The fee for a Strand member is $5 per session, and for a nonmember, $10 per session.
"It's a great deal," Root said.
"I know in Florida, it's $30 for two-and-half hours. We do have a large group of people that draw now. It's just really fun. Personally, I think it's foundational for artist to draw from a live model. What we're doing really is an exercise. It's a time to practice, a time to hone your skills, your ability to see, your use of light and shadow. You're using light and shadow to show form.
"That's why a lot of the work is in black and white. There is some color work also. You have to know about anatomy, and figure out relationships. It's very complicated, but it's a lot of fun."
Most of the exhibited works are for sale.
O'Connell runs the class now.
"This was her brain child to do this as an interactive exhibit meaning that people can bring a pad and pencil," Root said.
"For me, our life drawing group at the Strand is so much more than practicing drawing," O'Connell said.
"It is taking part in an ancient honored tradition of expressing the beauty and character of the human form on paper. It is perhaps a chance to meet a muse and find inspiration from our model. It is an opportunity to make art in a community of like-minded people. Over the years I have made some great friends at Life Drawing Open Studio."
FREE DRAW
Throughout the month of October, the Strand will host three free Community Figure Drawings Nights with an instructor and draped live model every Friday, from 5 to 7 p.m. Participants are asked to bring their own pads and pencils.
"There will be somebody to guide and help the people that want to draw," Root said.
"I think a lot of group is also going to come on Fridays and draw with the instructors."
David Monette will be the instructor on Friday.
Root will be the instructor on Oct. 14.
Pete Russom, a SUNY Plattsburgh professor of art, will be the guest instructor on Oct. 21.
June Levenson will round out the series on on Oct. 28.
"We're hoping to reach a lot of schools," Root said.
"It's going to be a draped model. It's not going to be a nude model for the Fridays. We're hoping that high-school kids, middle-school kids, will come and draw with an instructor and see what's like to see to draw from a model, which is something most systems haven't experienced. It doesn't even matter whether you know how to do it or ever done it. It doesn't matter.
"We hope that there will be some interest in people coming to do that. It's also going to happen on the opening night, so I'm hoping that everybody that comes to the opening will bring a pad and some paper and draw."
"For me, life drawing is the practice of finding beauty in the everyday ordinariness of people," Jubert said in a press release.
"There is a quiet but undeniable joy that comes from recognizing exceptional moments of art in something we thought was familiar."
'A BEGINNING, NO END'
Root and Palkovic are two of the longest participating artists with the group whose lineage traces back to fine artist Kim Berg and the late S. Booker.
"I was doing scene design at the college, and I wanted to improve the figures that appeared in the scene designs to make them more dynamic and expressive because if people see the figures that they can identify, they tend to accept the whole design more readily," Palkovic said.
"Of course, it's beyond that. For all of us, figure drawing has become an activity of value in itself. Figure drawing is an activity that has a beginning but no end. There is always something else to learn whether it's anatomy, expression or character. That's just some of the things that I'm interested in, but everybody has their own take on it. You'll see at the show that people have widely different approaches to the figure."
The exhibition's final evening on Nov. 4, from 6 to 7 p.m., will feature a live performance by Strand Modern Dance students led by instructor Jessica Bouharevich in response to the figure drawings on display in the gallery.
Root hopes the interactive nature of the exhibition brings more models and artists forward.
"More people that are interested in doing it," she said.
"That would be great. I feel like whenever we have a show at the Strand, it's nice to get different kinds of people, and I know that a lot of people are coming to this opening."
Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
Twitter@RobinCaudell
