Nikole Fraser is tackling cancer breast-on. At Breastfest 2007, she will encourage women to paint their breasts and imprint them on a large canvas.
"It's a liberating experience to be comfortable enough to paint your breasts and have (imprints) displayed ... not just because you're naked, but because you're making your mark against breast cancer," Fraser said.
TekkiLomnicki (who stands 3' 5") is doing a solo performance called "Clothing Optional" (via Terra Cotta Inn) in Chicago on January 28.
When Lomnicki finds herself at a clothing optional hot springs commune in Northern California, she takes the audience on a hilarious tour, undressing her fears about her body image in the process.
School district officials sought to fire Panse, who has tenure, accusing him of bringing sex into his high school classroom and violating district policy by offering students a figures drawing class — which would include the use of nude models — off campus and for his profit.
A judge ruled that Panse's actions did violate a no-solicitation policy, but that his talk of bringing in nude life models was not sexual inappropriateness.
The district suspended Panse with pay from his $54,782-a-year job in December 2005. His attorney, Jonathan Lovett, called the entire case against His client "ludicrous". "Because of this, the district has denied students of his talents and his expertise," Lovett said yesterday.
The pair moved into teaching more unusual forms of dance, such as capoeira - brazilian street dance - burlesque, and cabaret-style chair dance just over a year ago, and found that there was a growing trend for woman wanting to learn the skills more usually associated with strippers.
And pornography on the Internet has moved on. What was once basically the explicit depiction of sexual acts has become tailored to as many persuasions and possibilities as an entrepreneur's imagination can create. Sixty years ago, mainstream society's children got their sexual illumination from bare breasts in National Geographic. Then Playboy gave us the same bare breasts plus bare bums. Next, Penthouse brought exquisite colour to pubic areas. When the Internet arrived, economics meant any propriety or restraints disappeared. There was money to be made.
Nudism is the anti-pornography. It teaches that the naked human body is something to be respected, not exploited.
Spokane artist IldikóKalapács uses her Hungarian roots and the human body in her art. When her public murals show the nude figure, sometimes people are uncomfortable.
"I came from a culture where nudity in the visual arts is not a big deal. I'm very comfortable with nudes in the arts. It is not necessarily sexual but it can suggest vulnerability and can explore the similarities we share physically, no matter which culture or continent we belong to. It is to me more about the respect of the human body than anything else. It's interesting to see how people who are more conservative react to the body."
A high school art teacher in Richmond, Virginia, was fired when a video of him painting with his buttocks showed up on YouTube. The ACLU has taken the First Amendment case.
Is it acceptable to use one's own children for art? The Guggenheim museum is opening a show on February 9 called "Family Pictures".
Atlanta-born Tierney Gearon (b. 1963) shows photos of her small children nude on the beach, urinating in the snow, and seated on the toilet...photographs of a subject — no matter his or her age — cannot be published without legal consent, if the person has a "reasonable expectation of privacy" at the time the photograph was snapped. The entire span of childhood may be termed a time of "reasonable expectation of privacy..."
Well, this is a debate that pops up whenever an artist displays nude photos of children. Critics immediately cry "child abuse" and label the pictures as pornography or exploitation. It's all false indignation, based upon rigid religious beliefs or the false impression that anyone who wants to see a nude child must be a pedophile. The fact is that the tradition of photographic nude children dates back to the invention of the camera. Children are natural nudists, they have no shame and will run around naked all day if allowed. And just about every family has the obligatory naked-baby-on-the-rug photo in the scrapbook. There will always be someone who will assume bad intent on the part of the artist, but the truth is that children are beautiful and should be included in the art world.
Take a tour of California's Lupin Lodge Naturist Resort via YouTube.
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