by Abigail Ramirez
Daily Lobo
Student Liz Caldwell said getting naked isn't
always about sex.
"Because I'm willing to be nude by nature, people think that I'm supposed to be an exotic person," she said. "I have almost punched people in the face for that and get very adamant about stating that I am not an object of desire. I am an object of art."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Caldwell modeled for UNM art classes for four years and now models for artists and studios around town.
Finding artistic models can be difficult, because they are paid significantly less at UNM than any other institution or studio in the city, said Molly Whipple, model coordinator at the University.
Models receive $8 per hour at UNM.
Most modeling jobs pay $10 to $45 per hour,
Whipple said.
Models can work three to 15 hours each semester, she said.
Nude modeling isn't easy, Caldwell said.
"It's challenging to have to hold still for three hours straight, especially being nude in front of a classroom of peers that are potentially going to see you around campus," she said. "It challenges your confidence as well as your self-esteem and your patience."
Models are used in painting, drawing and sculpture classes, Whipple said. Most of the models are nude.
"It's all very tasteful," she said. "Nothing remotely suggestive or erotic is allowed, and it's very frowned upon to be like that. It's a very professionally clean process."
At UNM, there are seven student models and four staff models.
Many of the models are artists and understand how important it is to have a nude model, Whipple said.
Models usually pose in the center of the classroom.
Models can do short poses, which are three to 10 minutes long, or a long pose - one position for 20 minutes at a time with two-minute breaks.
Holding positions can be painful, Caldwell said.
"You have to have control - be aware of every single part of your body and what it's doing," she said. "If you move one centimeter, the shadows are going to be completely different, and you are going to mess up every artist in the room."
Models help artists learn how to capture the essence of a moment, Caldwell said.
"When you have a live artistic figure, it allows the artist to take the raw state of the figure and use it to make your own imprint in that art," she said. "You are an artist and looking to perfect your artistic ability by perfecting the true moment of things. You're not looking to reproduce something that somebody else has already done, like a picture or mannequin."
Professors aren't required to have artistic models in their classrooms.
However, most students like classes with models, Whipple said.
"It's really educational to use models," she said. "You get things from drawing different bodies that you wouldn't be able to get from drawing photographs or from using skeletons to draw the anatomy of a body."
Safety is the No. 1 priority for these models, she said.
Anybody who makes a model feel uncomfortable has to leave the class, she said.
Whipple said it's important to keep a nonsexual atmosphere in the classroom.
"People are looking at you as an object - a figure - not as an object of desire," she said. "You're in a professional environment, and you are not shaking your ass for money. Realizing that helps the nervousness definitely reside."
