Editor:
Re: “Nude drawings irk festival” and “Elitism in the arts,” April 13.
As coordinator of the life drawing exhibition “Slice Of Life” in the SC Arts Centre, I would like to apologize to Music Festival attendees who may have felt uncomfortable with our show of work from our figure drawing group.
It’s unfortunate that the annual children’s art exhibition was not held on their usual dates. I understand that the children’s show will not be returning to the April time slot due to problems with booking the exhibit over spring break. I hope our next show in three years will not coincide with theirs; however, the scheduling of exhibitions and events at the art gallery is out of our hands.
While I can apologize for the timing, I can’t apologize for our extremely professional, high calibre, diverse exhibition of highly accomplished life drawings. This is the 33rd year of weekly life drawing practice at the art gallery. With sensitivity and respect, we depict human beings in their natural form. Anatomy, light and shadow, form and mass, this is what we’re looking at.
Life drawing is an age-old tradition. It’s an opportunity for visual artists to strengthen eye-hand skills – an exercise similar to the musician practising music scales. We celebrate the beauty of the human form, not hide it as something distasteful or threatening. Our sketches are of the human body, nothing more, nothing less. Drop by and see for yourself. “Slice Of Life” runs till April 30.
Paula O’Brien, Gibsons, on behalf of life drawing group
