Future high school English teacher Chelsea Harms supplements her modest income the old-fashioned way, by getting naked in public.
Harms has worked as a nude model for the California State University, Bakersfield art department for the past three years. She finds the work fun, fulfilling and flattering.
“I love artistic endeavors,” Harms said. “I don’t have the discipline to be an art student, but I do enjoy participating in the artistic process.”
Harms was recruited to model by her photography professor when she was a freshman at the college.
“He said I had the personality and the figure to be an art model,” Harms said. “The art department was pretty desperate for models. They only had three weeks left of class, and they hadn’t had a live model yet.”
For the outgoing, unconventional Harms, nude modeling seemed like a perfect fit, though she is not what contemporary fashion moguls would term model-sized.
“I had been told I had a Reubenesque body,” she said. “Art students actually prefer softer curves, not jutting bones.
“In figure drawing, art students are like doctors; they don’t look at a body and go ‘whoo hoo.’ They’re looking at your body in terms of forms, shapes and shadows.”
Harms admits she felt uneasy at her first sitting.
“I was stressed-out and nervous. I had forgotten to bring a robe, so I had to borrow someone’s jacket and I stood there for the longest time with it pulled around me. Finally, I just counted to three and let it go. From that moment, there was no turning back.”
The professionalism of the artists and the protectiveness of the art department have helped her overcome her initial reticence to pose, she said.
“If any students ever said something, or gave me a dirty look that made me feel uncomfortable, they would immediately be failed or kicked out of class. I’m doing them a favor, and I’m getting paid to do it.”
So far Harms has never been confronted by a drawing of herself, au natural, unexpectedly displayed in a public art show. She has, however, asked for and received several drawings from students which she intends to frame and hang in her home, she said.
She has learned to overcome feelings of self-consciousness when she encounters art students outside of the studios.
“I run into students on campus all the time,” she said. “They recognize me and we joke about it. They’ve seen me naked. We’re pretty much fast friends after that.
“I still have insecurities, but I go in there anyway. Most of the students are women over 20, so they’re pretty mature about it. This is who I am, and I’ve gotten used to it. I have fun with my curves, but I’m actually a pretty modest person. I’m relatively conservative.”
Art professor Ted Kerzie has used Harms’ services in his drawing courses.
“Some people are uptight. Chelsea is relaxed, so the class is really relaxed,” he said.
Harms doesn’t see herself pursuing a career as a model.
“I want to be a teacher, a mother, and a groovy wife,” she said.
She sees her modeling experience as a valuable contribution to student learning. “I like knowing if I wasn’t in the room [the students] would not have improved in their art.
“I like hanging around with artists because they’re all a little weird,” she said.
It gives them something in common from which to draw.
Runner@csubak.edu