When I was 18 I got a job as a nude figure model posing for art classes at a community college. At the time I had several food service jobs, worked on a farm and volunteered as a firefighter, but when I saw the flier in the art department, I figured it'd at least be worth the experience. Plus, it paid decently and all I had to do was stand naked for a few hours every week--how hard could it be?
The first day I was scheduled to model, I walked into the classroom with my heart pounding, feeling like I'd made a terrible decision. After signing the various forms and showing my ID, I changed discreetly into my robe, sweating from every pore on my body and walked to the platform in the center of the classroom where I fully expected to faint or die from humiliation. The class started with 10 or so one-minute gestures poses—as most art classes seem to do—and then moved into longer, one- or two-hour long poses (with breaks every so often) which I soon learned could be difficult to maintain.
Needless to say, I was fine and fully enjoyed the whole experience; seeing how others interpret your body and translate your three-dimensionality into a two-dimensional piece of art is fascinating. It can be very difficult to adjust your body to being in the same, sometimes uncomfortable position for so long, but if treated like a meditation, the whole process is very relaxing and I have definitely taken advantage of the quiet time and napped.
One of the most difficult things that has come of my modeling is the need to explain to partners who are uncomfortable with the idea of me working as a figure model. They assume it is objectifying and sexual in nature. I reassure them that I am not being exploited when I make the decision to pose nude. Our society places shame and stigma around nudity and hypersexualizes female bodies to the point that women often face conflict when breastfeeding in public because a bystander feels offended by the sight of a bare breast. I think it is important for people to realize nudity is not inherently sexual, bodies are just bodies, and nudity is a natural state.
Admittedly, before I began modeling, I was never one to feel at ease or exceedingly confident being naked. I was usually the awkward person changing surreptitiously in the locker room, so to realize that I was able to stand, naked, surrounded by strangers was a surprise. There is power in having control over my body in a situation that in any other place could be uncomfortable or dangerous. I have the choice whether or not I want to be naked and there are no expectations or judgments made on my body, which is there purely for the artists to use as another medium. I am proud when I can help create a beautiful drawing or photograph and it helps me appreciate my body in new ways. A belly roll that I might feel self-conscious of is suddenly an interesting focal point, the planes of my back a landscape. Figure modeling has helped me feel more at home in my physical self and given me more confidence and body autonomy.
Since my first job at the community college art department four years ago, I have worked for local art
If you choose to give art modeling a try, make sure you are 100 percent comfortable with the people you are working with, the setting and the terms of the contract. If you promote yourself as a figure or art model you will without a doubt encounter, at the very worst--sketchy photographers and artists; and at the worst--skeevy mal-intentioned people who are clearly not interested in making art. The line between art and erotica can be clear and defined for some, nonexistent for others, or just simply difficult to establish. Knowing your boundaries is essential.
