Loving Bodies

Following a very successful run of women’s events, and one mixed one, I am happy to announce that our largest event to date is on the horizon, coming up in a few weeks. This mass model event is just for women – both drawing and modelling, and will be a fundraiser to buy sanitary towels and nappies, for women in a Syrian refugee camp.

Rebecca Thurgood, an architect, contacted me in January about her idea to put on this event to support Loving Humanity UK – a charity who provide sanitary towel making machines (and the know-how to operate them) to women in Za’atari refugee camp. She came across the Spirited Bodies site while researching her idea. It was apparent that our missions could harmoniously and fruitfully dovetail. Indeed my original idea for Spirited Bodies back in early 2011, was to raise money from the events, to channel towards women in less developed countries who are not privileged enough to be so concerned with their body image. In this way I envisaged Western women connecting with their sisters around the world, to heal each other in a way, and bring greater solidarity to all womankind.

I didn’t find it so easy to implement this idea. The logistics of putting on the larger events involved other organisations of artists, who needed them to be commercially viable. Smaller events which I ran myself tended to hardly cover their own costs. There was in tandem with this, the slightly out of kilter idea, that I as perhaps an impoverished artists’ model, could help women elsewhere to find a sustainable and independent lifestyle. It hardly made sense when I hadn’t exactly achieved that for myself. It seemed enough that I was helping people here to find greater peace and acceptance with their own bodies. That is, apart from an event I did with Life Drawing in Leytonstone in September 2014, which benefitted an orphanage in India. So I am extremely excited to now have this opportunity to collaborate with Rebecca, to further realise my dream, as well as hers.

Since I began Spirited Bodies I have developed my networks, built a community, and gained a lot of experience in running various types of these events working with different people. Now is an ideal time to embrace the new challenge.

Here is Rebecca’s flyer for our collaboration, which is called Loving Bodies;

I am looking for about 40 female life models (experienced as well as new) to each pose for 2 or 3 hours. This is unpaid for all involved as all money raised goes to the cause. Let me know if you are interested & please spread the word!
We are also looking for many many women to come and draw – it will only be £15, tickets available here.

Here is a picture of the venue from a mixed event I held there in 2013 with The Drawing Theatre –

It is a large space with good natural light, and on the occasion in the photograph, we did several poses in different parts of the space.

Here are some drawings from recent women’s events I held ealier this month;

From the women’s session at Telegraph Hill Festival on Saturday 5th March

From the older women’s session at WOW on Friday 11th March

From WOW on Saturday 12th March