Drawing Open Studio / Life Drawing - (tips on getting a group started)

triciaratliff wrote

on 30 Sep 2009 4:21 PM

Hi, 

Are you thinking about starting a life drawing group or have one already going? We have a great open studio life drawing group going here in Herndon Virginia (near Dulles Airport) every Wednesday night (7-10pm) that has continued steadily for over a year now. 

Now that this cool forum exists through American Artists, I thought I'd share some of what I've learned about facilitating to see if it would help anyone else who's thinking of doing the same. 

Of course, my list below assumes that you already know there are only a few elements required for an open studio life drawing/painting session: Model/Light/Space.  Other elements are optional but a big help: artists can bring music, snacks, travel easel, backdrops etc. A space with a sink is also nice but surprisingly ... not required. 

So, here's my list of lessons learned --------

#1. Just do it: In our case, plenty of people had talked about painting together but eventually 3 artists just went for it and agreed to get together for a few months on a night that worked for all of us "no matter what" in order to create some stability and see what happens. This allowed me to hire models for 20 weeks and give it a try. After awhile only 2 stayed but the group was already growing to 4, 5, then 6 and up. Artists may come and go but you only need 3 steady people to justify a 3 hour life drawing session. 

#2. Keep it simple, start small and enjoy it while it lasts: It's only natural to have dreams that your life drawing sessions will quickly be the most popular place for famous artists to all gather and create stunningly inspired works of art. Open studios seem to be either naturally small because of location or hot and overcrowded (sometimes even competitive) but never in between. (why is that? ... I can't answer that) If there are only 5 artists in your town and 3 of you want to paint together - that's enough for a 3 hour session. Honestly, the work of arranging models, setting up the space, finding nice music, responding to inquiries and dealing with a broken lightbulbs etc. can drive you a little nuts at first if you let it. Keeping it small with just a few people gives you a chance to have a sort of "dry run" period to figure out how to organize things effectively. The artists who attend together early may also have a natural feeling of empowerment as hosts who help with setup and other tasks because they'll feel like a core group when others join. Then, as new people attend, the small group that started your life drawing sessions can answer newbie questions for you and turn on the CD player while you greet the model. 

#3. Choose a cheap/free place to meet: Don't worry about the group outgrowing the site. We did and it worked fine. When we moved to a larger site, we announced it for weeks in advance and although we may have lost one new person in the transition but we left signs at the old site for two weeks just in case anyone was expecting to meet at the old location. Changing sites just once in a year didn't have the tragic effect we worried about.  

#4. Respond to feedback & be creative: When people complained about the cramped space and florescent lights at the first site we chose, we bought new clip lamps and just kept going until we found a new site with better accommodations - by then, we were well established and knew what to look for. Eventually, we ran out of interesting new professional models way out here in the burbs and started offering a "barter" option. Neighbors, family members in thrift shop costumes and that interesting looking clerk from the coffee shop would come sit in exchange for a sketch of themselves or the opportunity to attend life drawing themselves. We discovered that these sitters had wonderfully fresh looks, smiled more often and just loved being around artists. We still hire professionals when we're in the mood for a nude pose but creativity has kept things interesting. 

#5 Gorilla Market like crazy: If people like to see things 3 times before they remember it, I believe they like to know it still exists for about 3-6 months before their schedules can change and allow them to participate. So, send e-mails at random intervals, put up those silly flyers in the local coffee shop, post ads on craigslist and in any free newspaper - write down the time/day/address on a piece of paper anytime you meet someone who would be even remotely interested in art. (I even noted it on my website and blog) In our case, people have called *months* later with a flyer given to them by a friend and ask "are you still doing this?" and then begin attending regularly because they've recently finished taking a class that met on the same night. Oh ... and the economy doesn't matter. Life drawing is probably the cheapest way that artists can hold themselves accountable to get together and create. So, more people seem to attend when the economy is weak. 

#5. Be Reliable: It really helps if you never miss a week: even if one person just promises to show up when everyone else can't make it and paints a still life that night. At least a new artist dropping-in would be greeted warmly with an explanation that the group will be back the following week. Although we've never had to skip a week, there were plenty of times that I wanted to cancel because of weather or other hassles ... but keeping it going turned out to be a lot more fun in the end when new artists spontaneously show up! 

I hope this is encouraging. Let me know what you think and how your own life drawing session is working! 

Tricia Ratliff

www.TriciaRatliff.com

liquidmethod wrote

on 30 Sep 2009 5:45 PM

Great info Tricia!

Our Figure Drawing Group in Norfolk, Va has been going for a long time.  But it wasn't until we had to relocate that we realized that we needed everyone's email to keep everyone updated with the move.  Since then, when a new artist comes to the group, we get their email.  It also helps to keep attendance up by sending an email reminder the night before the session.  We used to only have 5 to 12 artists attend every week.  Now it's 15 to 24.  It also helps to have a social website such as Facebook, MySpace & Flickr.

Norfolk Drawing Group

http://www.flickr.com/jacdraw

http://www.myspace.com/jacdraw

Robin11 wrote

on 12 Oct 2009 1:04 PM

Tricia, I attend a life drawing drop in workshop and I THOUGHT about it for over a year after I found it!  I still don't go as often as I would like.  Thanks for the excellent tips!  It's really really really helped me.