Go figure
[[{"fid":"753711","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"height":"131","width":"136","style":"float: left;","class":"media-element file-default"}}]]Figure drawing instructor Heddi Siebel asks student artists to engage empathy in the practice of figure drawing at Harvard.
By Isa Flores-Jones '19
There are seven of us in the figure-drawing class. Eight, if you count the model. And Heddi Siebel does advise you count the model. Siebel has been teaching figure drawing class at Harvard for three years. Her teaching credits include Wellesley College, Massachusetts College of Art, Rhode Island School of Design and Boston University. Her philosophy on figure drawing, she tells the class, is simple: It’s all empathy.
We are gathered around Siebel, our easels and sketchpads momentarily set aside. There is a scattering of sketchpads, charcoal and pencils on the table behind her.
“Most art schools advise you see the model as an object. That you break the body down in order to draw it better,” says Siebel. “I think you should never lose sight of what she is. The model is a person.”
This is the last class of the fall semester. The students – most of whom do not study visual art academically – have [[{"fid":"753716","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"height":"489","width":"374","style":"float: right;","alt":"Artist Simi Fajemisin '20 Photo: Isa Flora-Jones '19","title":"Artist Simi Fajemisin '20 Photo: Isa Flora-Jones '19","class":"media-element file-default"}}]]met every Wednesday, 7:30-to-10 p.m. at the Currier House "Treehouse" in Radcliffe Quadrangle, rain or shine, to put aside their p-sets or papers and pick up charcoal, pencil and, Siebel hopes, an increased sense of empathy. Today, I join them.
Siebel opens the class with broad, hazy strokes. We’ll be starting with gesture, she tells me. Don’t think too much about it, she says, and, as I watch, she traces broad looping shapes onto my empty pad.
It feels awkward at first. My shapes are lopsided. They are hazy. As Siebel watches, I try to coax definition from the charcoal, which leaves the tips of my fingers and hands black for hours after the class. I do not succeed. She gives advice: Move from the shoulder; let form go; do not be critical. Let the shape emerge. She puts on soft piano music. Not-thinking is harder than it seems, and every time it seems I’ve got some kind of shape, the model changes her position, and my charcoal smudges remain nothing more than smudges – gestures at a gesture, scribbles without a form.
The model’s gaze – Siebel introduces her to us as Callista – is fixed on the wall beyond us, her body squarely at the center of our encircling easels. It is a position of vulnerability. Siebel wants her students to understand this kind of exposure. At the break, she gathers everyone around.
“Art is a way of interacting with the world. My goal is that everyone leaves class with a new way of viewing the world – another way of connecting.”
To promote that connection, she tells us that we’ll each be taking turns at the center of the circle with Callista.
“And the class is going to draw the both of you, posing together.”
The artists look at one another. Some grin. A few grimace.
“Any volunteers?”
Rachit Singh ‘18 is the first to step up. He stands at the center of the circle, hands braced on hips, eyes locked with Callista’s. He holds the pose.
[[{"fid":"753721","view_mode":"default","type":"media","attributes":{"height":"467","width":"371","style":"float: left;","alt":"Artist Isabel Gibney '20 Photo: Isa Flores-Jones '19","title":"Artist Isabel Gibney '20 Photo: Isa Flores-Jones '19","class":"media-element file-default"}}]]At the break, Ragit tells me – over the chocolate cake that Siebel has baked for the final class – that he studies computer science. I ask him about the way art has influenced his life.
“I do some graphic art for clubs on campus, but this is my main artistic outlet,” he says. “I haven’t taken any VES classes. I don’t think I would’ve tried any of this on my own.”
Each student has the same answer: The figure drawing class provides a respite, an outlet and, of course, a challenge. For some students, however, it provides additional practice to an academic schedule. Susan Li ‘18 studies animation. The class has helped her grow as an artist.
“I did figure drawing in high school,” she says. “I realized from the first class that I had forgotten and had a lot to learn.”
Finally it’s my turn to pose. I discover five minutes is longer than you think. My knees tense, my legs cramp and I find myself thinking about Siebel’s words at the start of the class. Drawing is a means of connection, a shared experience, a means of understanding.
My five minutes done, I am glad to take up pencil and eraser once more. But I understand, a little bit better what it is I’m being asked to draw from: not a model but life itself.
Heddi Siebel’s class will recommence in the spring. Registration and information about the session can be found here. To read Siebel's thoughts on empathy and art, click here.