My March 28 Friend

Arlene was taking down dozens of her framed charcoal drawings in Washington Square Park at the end of her showcase. These drawings were stunning — truly celebrating the human body in fluid movement.

Arlene moved to the city 30 years ago from New England after visiting San Francisco twice and knowing she wanted to be here.

After uprooting her life and everything she knew in New Hampshire, Arlene started over on the opposite coast. She’s been drawing since she was very young and started off with self-portraits because that’s all she had access to.

Once she went to art school and was able to draw models, her worldview changed. She no longer had to fabricate people in her mind — instead, she got to connect with her art in a new way.

Arlene is also a dancer and viscerally feels the poses as if she were doing it herself. When she works, she is always in a flow state and cannot imagine loving doing anything more.

One thing she noticed when moving to the west coast were that the models were “better.” I was curious what she meant by this and Arlene explained that her models are far more expressive.

For some models, “it’s a spiritual journey — like entering a chapel.”

Arlene has found that models in their 40s are more fun to engage with and capture because they are more confident in their own skin. They know who they are and are able to demonstrate that with conviction. She’s noticed that the models in their 20s are more insecure and less present, less expressive.

Arlene and her fellow artists have a deep love for the models. Her studio is a safe space where none of societies social constructs of body image exist. It is a mutually cathartic experience where the models are free in their bodies and the artists are connected to the energy.

I loved how much of herself she puts in her art and how unstructured her work feels. Arlene explained that she was more nervous and scared as a child and as she grew older, she learned how to give up control in her art.

She used to think having more control defined her art and that more control was correlated with higher quality art. Letting go of this notion gave her infinitely more room for creativity and growth.

Arlene could not think of something she was grateful for on the spot but promised to email me her answer later.