“As a figurative sculptor I am entranced with the human form, male, female, young or old.”

Created for Best of Artists and Artisans web site
By Bridgette Mongeon © 2007

Recently the editors of this column wrote me concerned that people were shying away from sending in nudes to the Best of Artists and Artisans art competitions. Are nudes a controversial subject to submit? As an artist I would certainly have to evaluate each competition carefully, before entering a nude. I posted this same topic on the sculpture community forum and received some enlightening responses.

Here are some of my own experiences with nude/naked art.

The human form is an important element of focus for any artist. My husband, who is also an artist, and I are always telling art students, “Draw from life, and make sure you can draw the human form.”

Working with nude models and creating paintings and sculptures of nudes are all part of the learning process. There was a time when there were more nudes in my repertoire of art. Although I rarely sculpt a nude these days, it is not because I have outgrown them. It is because of my very busy schedule, working with a live model would be a luxury; working from a live nude model would be a way to relax. All my work is through commission and I keep very busy doing just that. Unless someone commissioned me to create a nude, and I have had a few of those, then you won’t see many nudes coming out of my studio.

By far the piece that gets the most attention and always initiates comments from those who enter my studio is “Ethel” – a nude. It is also one of my favorites, and if I crave to do other nudes, it is because I have fallen in love with “Ethel” and want to see more of her, no pun intended. The Ethel sculpture startles individuals, but at the same time seems to make them secure within their own body.

Before the time of digital cameras, I would take pictures of the nude model, with their permission of course, and when they were not at the studio I could continue to work on the sculpture. There was a time when I was banned from coming to the local pharmacy photographic processing center, until they learned more about what I do, but even then they suggested I take these “type” of photographs to a professional lab.

The most controversial of nudes is the child nude. During the creation of “Le petit pollison,” individuals were concerned that you could tell the sex of the baby. It infuriated me that I should change my art to appease what others thought, but in the end I compromised by pushing down the child’s rear end.

I love sculpting children. I long to study that tiny little form, watch the process of the growth of the skull and bones, and yes I desire to sculpt nude children. To be perfectly honest I long to sculpt every human form. I’d love to find another Ethel, and would also love to sculpt a very old person as a nude. The thought of it immediately brings to mind the science behind what I am doing, how does the muscle and skeleton change over the years? But more than that, what emotion is exhibited from each form? The young child with his/her plump cheeks and swayed back, rear end sticking out and chin down initiates a feeling of innocence. On the contrary the frail form of the elderly, stature bent over with time, skin hanging, exhibits the ravages of life and in that wisdom. As a figurative sculptor I am entranced with the human form, male, female, young or old. When that longing is transmitted to the clay, accompanied by the emotion and the artistic passion, it can become an award-winning piece of art, one that, with the proper competition, could be submitted to without hesitation!

Created for Best of Artist’s and Artisans website
By Bridgette Mongeon © 2007

The Houston Public Television Station created an artist documentary on my work that began, “Making a living, while living a dream, a hard combination, many hope for but few achieve.” Why is this difficult for some artists to achieve? There are many reasons. Some want to create and don’t want to bring the element of sales or business into their sacred place of creating. Others may not have the business resources. Still others have psychological barriers that keep them from succeeding and reaching their dreams. Through my marketing in the arts workshops I have helped many different individuals overcome those obstacles that stood in their way of achieving. I hope to help some of you do the same. But be forewarned, sometimes the biggest obstacle can be yourself!

In my lecture on creativity I often state, “Watch out, the moment you want to be creative; the moment you sit down to begin the process of writing or painting or drawing or composing, your mind will suddenly feel a different urge. Suddenly you will feel that cleaning the grease off the back of the kitchen stove will be more important than creating.”

It is the voices we hear in our heads that keep us from doing the very thing that our heart wants to do. We distract ourselves with other things. Yesterday I sat down to write a chapter of my marketing book and felt compelled to check my e-mail, look up random topics on search engines, and then clean off my desk. The same thing happens when I begin to sculpt. “Don’t forget when you get back into the office you should…,” my mind bellows. Last week I was working on a sculpture and jumped up so many times I thought there must be something wrong with me. Now I make it a point to keep a pad and pencil by my sculpture and jot down intruding thoughts.

A friend called with the deepest yearning in her heart, “I want to be a writer,” she stated. My answer was matter of fact, “Then write. Don’t just read about writing; don’t take classes on writing, WRITE!” We keep ourselves busy without actually doing the thing we want to do. Another friend called and said she wanted to be a mosaic artist. “I think I’ll get a part time job so I can afford more art materials, then I’ll go and buy some really nice concrete birdbaths and more art supplies, and then I’ll create the most beautiful pieces.” I told her to break some old plates and create. Why do we make things more difficult than we have to?

If you really want an eye opener, purchase Steve Pressfield’s book, The War of Art.

Pressfield calls it resistance. My husband, also an artist and writer, said this is one of the best books he has read. “It doesn’t leave you any places to hide,” he told me. The book is a quick read but one you will want to keep around. It will; however, make you take a hard look at yourself. Scrawled on my husband’s marks-a-lot board in his office is, “RESIST RESISTANCE—EXCUSES”.

Pressfield put a name to the voice—resistance. I have approached it a different way, telling attendees of my workshops that the left hemisphere is the more dominant. My queue cards for the left brain (the left side of the audience) reads, “You can’t draw, you can’t write, you can’t act, NO WAY, NO WAY, NO WAY!” The audience is rather timid when saying it, but I convince them to say it in the voice they hear in their head. The retort is a scream that comes from the gut. It is their voices that keep them from their dream. The queue card for the right side of my audience (the right creative hemisphere) is often said in a whisper, “Yes you can, yes you can, just try.”

In the words of Pressfield;

“Resistance is fueled by fear: Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.”