NEKKED

At $10 an hour, nude-modeling at the Celery Barn Artists' Studio in Sarasota was the most profitable form of employment I ever enjoyed while earning my BA. The artists were more or less committed artists, too--a little bit older, a little bit wiser than my fellow students. I don't think I could have taken it off in front of a class at New College--at a midnight orgy party under a full moon, yes, but not in front of a class. Besides, NC only paid $9 an hour.

Most of Celery Barn people could actually paint, albeit in the imitation of real artists--it was great fun, however, to see my face represented amid Mücha-like flower swirls and Wyeth lighting.

Yes, I enjoyed working at the Celery Barn. I got paid well, and no one ever got weird. They'd seen it all before. They told me about a model they once had who just sat there and cried, naked and miserable and ashamed. They said they would have sent her home, but that they didn't want to damage her pride any more than it was already damaged. They were also impressed that I was taking Greek. Sadly, this job had to end when I found out that Sluggo's mom was going to start coming to the studio on Saturdays. Getting naked in front of my future mother-in-law would have been too weird for even me.

 

<<back>>