Mesa Community College hosts live drawing sessions for local artists
The Mesa Community College art department opened its doors to students and community artists last Friday at a live open drawing session designed to create a very relaxing environment for artists to come together and sketch.
The session was held inside a large art room within the art department building and welcomed a total of 15 artists to come and sketch a nude model in the middle of the room.
The form of art is a very traditional activity which looks to express the beauty and pride of the human body. MCC has been hosting the drawing sessions for many years, and they were met with yet another successful turnout.
“Artists draw a live nude model as they would in a Life Drawing class, using charcoal, pastel, paint, etc. Artists must bring their own supplies and no photography is allowed.” said Gingher Leyendecker, MCC art department chair.
The session had a very calm and relaxing environment, with classic rock music playing in the background.
Small breaks were taken where the artists could come together and socialize to talk about their work while enjoying all the refreshments and snacks provided.
“It’s a long tradition to work from a model, to be able to work from a model in art and life drawing, and it’s something people can’t generally do on their own so we bring together past students, current students, as well as community members to share that experience” said Leo Di Fraia, art faculty member at MCC.
After the session was over, artists were able to take their work home or keep it at MCC to display for future events.
During the month of March, the art department plans to put on a show in the art and communication building where the hallways are planned to be filled with student and community artwork.
Those who participated in last week’s event had the opportunity to have their work available for people to see at the upcoming event.
