Gherity, continued from page one
So how do you tell a group of impatient artists, after being so peeeerfectly specific about the pose from hell that you will be in for the next 3 days, that you can't do what they ask, rather, you won't? ?Not that I wouldn't have. I've worked my ass off for people I feel appreciate me because it's a pleasure. This was not. As a matter of fact, the attitude and the demands were escalating on insulting. "Why not?" What?are you kidding?
Well, let's see? your school pays us the lowest in the entire Twin Cities area, expects the most difficult poses and on top of it you're rude! Are you kidding?!? You tell me why I should bust my ass for you.
You'd expect the host school would recognize that if they are having trouble recruiting or keeping quality models around, it is because they pay peanuts and the work is grueling. An attitude is not something a school like this can afford. I should say that they were less contemptuous than the Tribune story read; it was more a matter of insensitivity, lack of empathy, and dare I say it, ignorance.
I offered a "lovely seated pose" to the sound of verbal disappointment. I moved from pose to pose, as 24 eyes watched and judged silently. I felt more naked than I had in a long time. There seemed to be no changing the undercurrent of disrepute in the air, so I settle on a pose and waited for a response. One woman comments, "well, that's unattractive." OK, now its comments like this that are so ridiculously insensitive that I know I'm in the wrong place. Hey lady, have you ever heard of TACT?!?
Still, I stayed. I was hoping when a pose was finally chosen I could meditate and zone these people out. A pose was reluctantly agreed upon and I set the timer to the required 22 minutes. I wanted to leave but I sat and thought about what just happened. I knew that some students would not deserve to be left without the subject they had planned and paid for. On the other hand, I was pissed, denuded and humiliated. I felt my dignity would have suffered by staying, not to mention that there were a million other things I could have been doing!
The timer finally went off. I had decided to leave. But, as Miller mentioned in the article, not before telling the class, the kid and the guy who hired me in the office what I thought.
We do what we have to in this life. Every job, every thing has drawbacks. But it is whom you decide to be in the moment that creates who you are as a human being. This incident did have an effect on me. I was a bit shaken as I left. I knew I had caused a ripple in some people's day. But, by staying it would have implied that I thought how I had been treated was OK. It was not. I did not hold a grudge; I just formed an opinion. It was an experience that I was happy was behind me, but did not forget. And my pride was intact. I don't think I'm being too bold in saying that some students may have gotten an education that day that was more valuable and appropriate for the moment. I don't think it will hurt this kid and the school to evaluate what their models mean to them and how they come across. Sometimes an artist needs to look past the canvas. Because? I am a human being and my masterpiece is more precious than yours.
?Wendy M. Gherity 2002