Being seen naked isn’t everyone’s biggest fear.
For Bonita Summers, her career as a nude model means contributing to someone’s artistic development.
“Someone made art out of observing me. That’s pretty amazing,” she said.
In the art world, the position is referred to as an undraped model. It’s a job that requires extreme stillness — sometimes for hours on end.
“It requires you to be uncomfortable for a long period of time,” Summers said. “You can’t fidget.”
Summers said as an undraped life model for fine art at Queen’s, she would hold poses for an hour and a half.
As a result, undraped modeling is a physically and mentally taxing experience.
“You use your imagination to create different poses,” she said, adding that meditation allows her to remain still.
“When my mind is occupied, I tend to forget what my body is experiencing … still, some discomfort is likely with any long pose, so models need to have some tolerance,” she said.
As a yoga instructor and belly dancer, Summers said she often uses complicated poses to make herself more of a challenge to draw.
It’s a career that doesn’t discriminate on age, she said.
“A body that is fleshier and that has more lines and folds is more of a challenge to draw than a younger physique,” she said.
It was a combination of Summers’ personal confidence and appreciation of art that led her to take jobs as an undraped model. For the past two years, Summers has worked as an undraped model at Queen’s, St. Lawrence College, Loyalist College and for various art groups in Kingston.
“I’m a strong 48-year-old and comfortable with my body,” she said. “I also enjoy art and wanted to be a muse that inspires people.”
Summers said older women are often more comfortable with their bodies because they’ve brought children into the world. The mother of four became an undraped model in her 40s.
“For most women [this] means being in a vulnerable situation, unclothed in front of strangers,” Summers said. “During the birth experience, there is too much happening for a woman to become self-conscious. She may realize afterward that there is no reason to be self-conscious about her body.”
Young models can be successful in the field if they can think of interesting poses, Summers said. A model of either sex who can remain motionless for a long time and hold dynamic poses will stand out among competition as well.
It’s a more lucrative career than most people think, she said.
“On average, $20 to $25 an hour is common,” she said, adding that hourly ranges can range from $12 to $50.
Summers said she considers it an honour to be an undraped model and that fortunately, she’s never been made to feel uncomfortable by students.
“I’m just lines and a shadow to them,” she said. “Students are appreciative — if there weren’t people like us, there couldn’t be life drawings.”
In order to avoid awkwardness, Summers said she tries to make students comfortable before they draw her.
“I walk in and make eye contact, and whenever they’re not drawing I always wear a housecoat,” she said. “We’re all people who just happen to wear clothing … it’s not a big deal if you’re not insecure about your body.”
An undraped model’s own confidence level is important for the students’ comfort as well, Summers said.
“When we aren’t overly concerned about our appearance, others tend to relax as well,” she said. “A model who is relaxed about being undraped is less likely to make the students uncomfortable.”
Summers recounts one incident where the location of a class was unheated in late fall – it’s one rare uncomfortable experience she had.
“This was the first cold night of the year, and they were not prepared for the sudden drop in temperature … You know there’s a problem when the artists are rubbing their hands together to stay warm and the model needs frequent breaks to don a robe and warm up,” she said.
At Queen’s, undraped models only pose for students in the fine arts program, Summers said.
“Queen’s is very respectful of us. Professors give us pillows and [are] respectful if we get hot or cold,” she said.
As a result of these accommodations, Summers has been able to do some of her most interesting poses in Queen’s classrooms, she said, however, the environment could be scary for some undraped models.
“Queen’s tends to have larger classes, which can be intimidating to new models, because the model is on a platform in the middle of the room, surrounded by students, as opposed to a small stage with a backdrop. It takes a lot of confidence to be an undraped model in such circumstances,” she said.
Summers considers herself an art fan and remains continuously impressed by the talents of the students she poses for, she said.
“When I’m posing, it’s interesting to see how everyone applies what the teacher has taught differently … everyone has a different technique or perspective.”
Ted Rettig is a sculpture and painting professor in the Queen’s department of fine art.
He said foundation or painting courses use undraped models.
There’s a big difference between sketching an undraped model versus sketching from a photo, Rettig said.
“It’s the translation from 3D to 2D that takes a while,” he said. “What one perceives in space is a change of position and variation.”
No more than 30 students would sketch an undraped model at a time, Rettig said.
“It’s a formal, professional relationship that is not exploitative,” he said, adding that when students sketch a human body, it’s not sexualized. “It’s the study of the form and anatomy.”
Since its beginning in the 1930s, the fine art program has used undraped models, Rettig said.
“Since [the] Renaissance, every art school has had nude models,” he said. “This is something that has been documented for hundreds of years.”
Despite the historical presence of undraped models, there has been debate on their use in art.
“With the contribution feminism has made, we’ve had important questioning of whether the models are just seen as an objects,” he said.
Rettig said he doesn’t face problems finding undraped models to use in his classes.
“It’s a known profession that there are often ads about in the paper … our secretary has a list of people who’ve applied, and we’ll call and ask if they’re available,” Rettig said.
Many of these people come from the Kingston art community and have had experience doing undraped modeling before, Rettig said.
Sketching an undraped model
It’s no surprise that undraped models need to disregard their insecurities but those drawing need to do the same.
Emily Carlaw, ArtSci ’13, sketched an undraped life model at the start of her first year at Queen’s.
“It was a man wearing a robe and I [thought], ‘that’s an interesting choice of attire,’” she said. “Then I realized what was happening.”
Initially nervous, Carlaw quickly had to overcome her own discomfort in order to complete her assignment.
“I had to convince myself to be professional and kept having to say to myself, ‘I’m an artist,’” she said.
While Carlaw was surprised to find herself sketching an undraped life model, apparently her fellow art students didn’t find the circumstance unusual.
“A lot of people had done this type of thing before,” she said.
At Queen’s, only students in the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program sketch undraped models in drawing and painting classes.
Now in her third year, Carlaw has gained more experience sketching undraped models. Her nervousness is no longer a factor.
“I can manage it much better,” she said, adding that she then translates the sketch into a painting.
Larger people are more difficult to paint because the artist has to adequately capture the folds in the skin, Carlaw said.
“If models are bigger it’s more interesting to paint,” she said. “We’re probably bombarded with skinny models all the time in popular culture so … it’s nice to get some larger people.”
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