Why everyone should find life drawing ridiculously fascinating

By Martha Briana

My first contact drawing the nude model was in 1993. It was my first, and only, year at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I lacked the confidence to perform with all the other gifted students and wasn’t sure I’d have the nerve to be an artist, but took a shine to drawing the figure. I think it was the approach that allowed me to get out of my own head a bit. “Draw this nude woman in 30 seconds” ….”Describe all that you are seeing with a few essential lines” ….
Now if I really took a look, there was a woman, naked, stripped of clothing, revealing more of herself in that instant than most of the people I knew. Luckily, thirty seconds doesn’t give you any time to think, you just react, it’s like running a race or chugging a soda, a really physical response to translating what you see. There is so much to take in, in 30 seconds, I truly wasn’t done running that race. I wanted to do it again and again, and that became the pursuit.

I promptly dropped out of college completely, and went back home to find two of my good friends from high school modeling for the local art group I attended. How did they know how to model and bare it all in 20 minute poses? I was fascinated by this as well. These girls were not just strangers, they were my peers, and now muses for a community of artists. I was taken by drawing them, it was more intimate, I knew more about my subject matter. It was special in that way, but still the real challenge was simply drawing.

Fast forward to my return to college at USM. I found a group of locals that used the art room at the college to practice figure drawing. Mostly retired folks, and one bar owner named Frank. Since college at USM took me ten years to complete, I spent a lot of time in that group drawing the models. Finally, I must say, got a bit bored of drawing the same models, but the discussions on how to draw were always colorful thanks to Frank and Eddie and Judith and the other the artists. I now realize that it was my own approach to the figure that was tiring me out.

I believe life drawing is fascinating because humans are inclined towards the pursuit of studying themselves. Why am I here? Where am I going? Who am I? All valid questions for man. If you look deep within yourself, would you find your soul, your psychological make-up, what makes you tick, possibly even your path to enlightenment? I can say that if I look inward, deep down inside, I’m going to be looking through hundreds of nude drawings, hopefully my better ones, and a few of Frank’s too. Amen.

First published on Mayo Street Arts coinciding with "At Frank’s Place" - an exhibit of drawings and paintings by Martha Briana and Frank Pierobello at Mayo Street Arts Center, September 2010.