What's so bad about being seen naked?

I have a query which I would really LOVE to hear from you all about. 

I just read back through some correspondence I had last year with one of my models.  At the beginning of our process, she was very clear and adamant that she wanted to show her whole body.  Fuck anybody who didn't like it.  Richmond is conservative, but fuck them.  Her body.  She gets to do what she wants.

During the course of our conversation, over months, she retreated from that stance completely and ended up at times being very upset that I had included a tattoo in her piece even though she hadn't even recognized herself in the picture the first time she saw it.  I offered to remove it and did.  At that point, the picture was virtually anonymous.  In fact, a friend of mine told me she knew who it was - her niece - totally wrong.  Many people think they know who the model is, and each of them has been wrong.  Not that I would give them the slightest indication of whether they were right OR wrong - my models have the option of complete anonymity if they want it.  People sometimes ask slyly if my model for some piece was such-and-such and I give them absolutely no indication of whether they're right or wrong.  It's none of their business.

But what is interesting to me today is what harm people think could come to them if they are identified in the pictures.  The woman I just mentioned became extremely alarmed that she could lose her jobs if anyone recognized her or that any of 3 different people might stalk her because of them.  She felt concerned that they would send the pictures out on the Internet and make her life holy hell.

I don't understand that.  I don't know what they could do that would make her life hell.  The picture is fairly demure.  It doesn't show her genitals at all.  There is an outline of her breast that shows, but mostly it's legs and arm and hands and foot.  It's a lovely picture, beautiful and calm and sacred.

I truly don't know what someone could do that would be harmful to her about it.  Unless she allowed them to have power over her because she perceived they did because they'd seen that picture of her without her clothes on.  But in reality, what power could they have?  That's my query to you.  What power could they have?

What is it about being naked that makes us fear people have power over us?  Naked in real life walking down the street I can understand would be very vulnerable.  But in a picture, unidentifiable?  Or even identifiable?

I have chosen to draw my own self portrait in which I am very naked.  I have feelings about being seen nude, but ultimately I can't come up with a reason not to show it beyond some slight embarrassment that others might judge how I look.  But that would be their problem.  If I'm OK with how I look, then what they say can't get under my skin very far.

This, to me, is one of the most fascinating things about doing this work.

Most of the models have feelings about being seen.  Most of them are anxious about it.  One or two women have said they had to sign moral clauses for their jobs, and they're concerned that posing for me would violate the clause and give their employers just cause to fire them.  I would love for one of my models to be fired so we could take the employers to court and chase this one down!  Yeah, boy!  (Not that I want someone to lose their job because of me, but I would LOVE the opportunity to pop holes in the idiocy of the claim that posing nude is immoral.  Especially for this project which is all about the sanctity of the female body.)

Do you, dear reader, know anything about the law?  Is it truly possible to fire someone because they've posed nude?  I know celebrities get all kinds of raucous press if it's discovered that they've posed for Playboy or Penthouse, etc.  I admire how Madonna responded to that - "Yeah, so what?"  Wikipedia explains it thusly: 

In July, Penthouse and Playboy magazines published a number of nude photos of Madonna, taken in New York in 1978. She had posed for the photographs as she needed money at the time, and was paid as little as $25 a session.^[43] The publication of the photos caused a media uproar, but Madonna remained defiant and unapologetic. The photographs were ultimately sold for up to $100,000.^[43] She referred to the whole experience at the 1985 outdoor Live Aid charity concert saying that she would not take her jacket off because "[the media] might hold it against me ten years from now.

I looked at a bunch of the pictures online just now and I don't find them objectionable at all.  Some of the ones from Playboy show her crotch, but most of them are just pretty pictures of a female nude, tastefully done.  They're like ones I take of my models.  The lighting is pretty.  The form is beautiful.  The compositions for the most part are nice.  They're artsy nudes.

There are many women who have posed nude for art classes or for photographers.  They do it for many different reasons.  The ones I've spoken to have universally good experiences.  When I took a drawing class at Arrowmont 10 years ago, the model there read a poem she had written about her experience as a nude model.  She felt she was giving us a gift by allowing herself to be seen naked, by being vulnerable in front of her.  I agree with that.  It's a beautiful way to perceive it.

I think it's all a matter of perception, in fact.  If we perceive the human body as perverse and dirty, then it is.  If we see it as sacred and beautiful, a manifestation of our souls, then it is.

I'd love some feedback on this.  I know I am blind to how most of the world perceives this issue, and I'd love to know.  Anyone??

Madelyn Miller's blog post

I was very excited today to find out that Madelyn Miller, the indomitable Travel Lady, mentioned my class, Naked Self Portraiture, in her blog!  The last time she mentioned my artwork was when I did the show 12 Naked Men.  Her blog about that got over 100,000 hits/day!  I'll be curious to see if this one does as well.  If you'd like to see the 12 Naked Men, you can look on my website, susansinger.com to see the ones still available for purchase.

Here's the link if you're curious what she had to say.  It's Monday's post, so you have to scroll down just a little bit.

If you're interested in learning more about the class, here's more information.  I think it's going to be a wonderful class.  We'll take it slow as we explore the idea of being nude in front of others, not to mention ourselves.  The first couple of sessions we'll draw and sculpt body parts we can see with our clothes on.  Gradually, as we build comfort and safety with our fellow classmates, we'll consider other parts.  We'll be using very simple art supplies like Playdoh and finger paint because I want the class to be accessible to artists and non-artists alike.  It is intended to be a playful, joyful exploration of our own incredible beauty.

To sign up, send me an email at susansinger@msn.com, and I'll put you on the list.  We can only take 15 students, so be sure to sign up quickly if you're interested.  We're expecting the class to fill quickly.

Trying to break through old patterns using patterns

Geez!  I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted anything - a flurry of posts then nothing!  I've been busy in the studio despite that.

Last Friday we took my youngest to college for his Freshman year.  Since then each day i've been checking my email frequently, hoping for a missive from him, telling about the good times he's having.  I've received a total of 20 lines, 2 of which regarded money.  Yes, well.  I guess I'd better get used to it!

In the meantime, I've been walking with my friend Lynn, a 65-year-old woman who runs marathons and is planning an ascent of Mount Kilamanjaro for February 2011.  I am so blessed to have her in my life.  She's helping me get in shape, but she also inspires me like crazy because of how she lives her life.  I love spending time with her!

The way I got to know her was through her modeling for me.  She saw my 12 Naked Men show in Petersburg and told me she'd like to model for me.  Unfortunately I couldn't read her email address accurately so couldn't get in touch with her that time around, but luckily she found me again at Crossroads when I was showing The Dancer at 89.  She was adamant that she wanted to model for me so we set up a time right then and there.

Bling Lady was the first piece I did of her from that session.  I have several other pieces I'd like to do from then, but haven't gotten around to them yet. 

A couple of months after I first photographed her, she told me her sister and neice were going to be in town and she'd like to bring them over to see the painting.  I told her that would be fine and if they wanted to model while they were here, that would be great too (just kidding!).  Lynn took me seriously and told them that's what they were going to do. 

We had a great time in the studio that day!  Her sister and neice were wonderful models.  The three of them were so at ease with themselves and each other.  I got some fabulous shots and have painted a picture of them already.  I'm not at liberty to show it because, though they're comfortable with my painting their faces with their body, they prefer me not to show them on the internet.  Totally fine.

One of the props we used that day was a fake fur coat Chris had just gotten me for my birthday.  I turned 50 and his gift to me was to take me shopping for a winter coat because mine was getting worn out after 8 years of constant use.  I was looking for another practical piece to replace it, but then Isaw these crazy floor length fur coats.  I tried on a white one with a huge hood just for kicks.  I actually LOVED it!  I felt like a fairy princess snow queen.  Not the look I usually aim for, but I loved it!  I tried on more and more of the coats and told Chris that I was actually going to get one of them!  In the end I bought two - a short one I wear almost daily and a floor length one that looks like a racoon coat from the 50's or whenever it was the guys wore those in college.  I love it!  I haven't actually worn it out of the house yet because I don't quite have the gall to show up with it on anywhere - I don't really go anywhere that calls for a fur coat - but I'm working on it!  Maybe by this winter I'll have come up with someplace - maybe I'll wear it at my opening in October despite the heat in the building with 100's of people crowding around.  Or not.

At any rate, I brought it out to show to Lynn and her sister and neice.  They loved them and started clowning around in them.  Of course I snapped pictures while they were playing.  They're very fun!

That's the back story.

A couple of weeks ago when Lynn and I were walking, she was telling me what she thought of the paintings I'd done during Tom's workshop.  She LOVED the Jenny Saville one.  She said that's how she feels!  Like that paint, those colors, that energy!  She wanted to know why I didn't paint her that way.  She said she liked the piece I did of her, but it was so calm and restrained - why didn't I do this with her?

Well!  I'd been wanting to try such unrestrained painting ever since the workshop, but I'd built up in my mind that my models might be bothered by it (is that true, models???) - that they might find such outrageous energy shameful or ugly or excessive - can you tell what my judgments are?  Yet that was exactly what I wanted to do. 

And here Lynn was giving me permission and asking me to do it with her painting!  That evening I went out to the studio and started playing with Adobe and modifying some of the photos I have of Lynn.  The one on the left is the one I played with the most.  She loved it!  I don't know that I'll paint it like this, but it could give me a good start for getting wilder with the colors and the energy.

The thing that is difficult for me is to recognize that crazy colors and wildly energetic looking doesn't mean random, wild strokes with equal intensity to the mark making.  Those strokes have to be every bit as careful as the way I normally work.  So really, the painting isn't different except in the colors I would use.  At some level I'm looking to be more expressive with the strokes too.  It's the process I'm in, I guess.

As an intermediate step, I decided to work on a piece of Lynn in the fur coat.  I really love her expression and her pose and figured I could have some fun with it.

The first picture was the beginning.  I decided to put a very bold color down for the background colors and to play with the colors in the coat.  I regret the colors in the coat.  I don't like how greenish the yellow is.  Lynn's coloring is pinker than that, so I find it jarring, but I'm not done yet!

I decided to paint her body completely realistically and make it as beautifully rendered as I could manage then play with the coat and background, sort of like Gustav Klimt did his women.  As you can see in this image, the face and hands are painted very realistically (except for his color choice perhaps - she's a bit too blue and pale to look completely realistic), then the rest of it is full of incredible patterns.  The piece is a portrait, but clearly it's more about the patterns.  I haven't decided if I want to go that far or not.  I love drawing patterns.  It's how I doodle.  I would love to figure out how to combine both things - patterns and portraits - but so far I haven't been able to see how to do it.  I could take that chance in this painting, but, frankly, I've gotten attached to the outcome and want to make it pretty.  I'm afraid to screw it up.

Writing that makes me know it's the only choice I really have.  I have to let myself play.  Otherwise why should I even bother doing art?  If I don't take a chance, I should just close up shop and go home.

Yikes!  Here are some of the patterns I've done before.  OK.  I'm ready!  They're gonna be in the painting!  Wish me luck!

great Facebook conversation

When I asked the question on Facebook, "Can you please tell me what it is about a naked body that freaks people out so much they will keep their children away from it as if it were an oncoming speeding train?" I had no idea I would get such great responses!  I'm putting them here to share more widely.  Folks have some really interesting thoughts about it.  Please feel free to join the conversation either on facebook or by posting your comments here.  (I've changed the names of people to numbers to protect the privacy of people involved unless I have explicit permission to include their names.) 


Susan Singer: Can someone please tell me what it is about a naked body that freaks people out so much they will keep their children away from it as if it were an oncoming speeding train? I really don't understand it.

#1: Pretty much the USA. I too have traveled and it's not the same anywhere else; well anywhere near a beach.

#2: neither do they!

#1: Hee hee.

Susan Singer:
No, no, you guys don't understand - we're too like-minded! I really need to understand the other point of view. Otherwise how will I work to help these folks love their bodies too? I'm so immersed in my view of how things should be that I can't see another point of view. I'm sure they have some valid points, and it would be good if I could address them. (Or if they are simply fear-based, it would be great to be able to address the fears and try to allay them.)

Hal Vaughan: I've heard that in a PG-13 movie a man can hack off a woman's breast, but he can't kiss it. Do we have a mixed up set of concerns or not?

#4: I've always had nudes in my bathrooms. I like them.

Hal Vaughan: I think it's because, in the US, nudity = sex. If children see naked bodies, then they'll want to know more and explore and will have sex. It's the logical fallacy (or phallacy, in this case?) of not drawing a line and assuming that taking the first step means one will take all the steps.

Susan Singer:
Hal, I think we might. Read my blog for more about that.


I'm curious - I have a model who is embarassed to buy the painting I did of her because she's worried people would see it and think... I'm not sure what she thinks they'd think... would you hang a painting of a nude somewhere other than a bathroom or your bedroom? What would it say about you if you did? (Or what do you think people would think?)


Susan Singer:
Hal, I think you're on to something. So, OK, then, what's actually wrong with having sex? (I know, that's going to open up a huge can of worms.) I wouldn't want my young children having sex - I don't think they're ready for it emotionally, but what's wrong with people having sex otherwise as long as it's consensual? My belief is that if we talk to kids about sex - I mean really talk to them about it - the good, the bad, and the ugly - then they're wise enough to make good choices - despite raging hormones. If they see affection and naked bodies when they're young and have a real choice, maybe they won't need to go around having sex to do each of those when they're too young just to have the experience. I think kids have sex to get affection, to spite their parents, because they don't know they have a choice, and lots of other reasons. And of course there are those hormone things! What if there were enough information for kids that they could actually make an informed choice?

#1: Planned Parenthood gets info out there as much as possible. Hormones rule. I distinctly remember not knowing what to do with mine! Even when I thought I did know.

#5: "Take off all your clothes and walk down the street waving a machete and firing an Uzi, and terrified [American] citizens will phone the police and report: 'There's a naked person outside!' " (Mike Nichols)

#1: Weapons are legal.

#1: #2 said it, here, "neither do they!" Seems to me the first people to set foot on this shore were covered from chin to toe.

Susan Singer
#5, you're killin' me! That's the best quote I've heard all day!


#1, which people do you mean? The people who wandered over by foot across the Bearing (sp?) Straight or the Europeans with weapons?

#1: The European's with weapons. No bare feet, no bare anything=)

Hal Vaughan: The problem is that the people that don't want nudity are the same ones who will NOT allow anyone else to talk to or teach their children about sex and, in my experience as a teacher (mostly in residential treatment), they tell their kids info that the kids don't want to know (like "God says don't do it until you're married). They don't talk about... See More the hormones or anything else -- and I think a lot of it is because they were treated that way as kids and barely know more than which parts go where themselves, so they get flustered and don't want to admit they know so little in the first place.

#1: There is definitely a lot of truth to that, Hal. And every child is different. I have found, from personal experience, that as soon as children think of what goes where, they look at they parents in complete disbelief. Parents have a hard time with that imagery in their child's mind.

#1: It passes.

#6: I'm still blaming the Puritans...and their unclaimed baggage...

#7: Nudity is art and nakedness is shameful it's a point of view based on personal vulnerabilities and a mind set....... that plus the fear of uncontrollable leakage, we're only flawed humans and filled with psychosis. We live in a fallen world.

#8: The very words "nude" and "naked" have huge differences in my experience. Nude is natural, nude is art, nude can be beautiful and peaceful. Naked is vulnerable, scary, and joked about/jeered at. "Nekkid" can be said in lighthearted fun with the right companion or good friends, but "naked" is just... somehow the word makes me want to cringe.

Susan Singer
I'm loving this conversation. You all have such interesting input and insights. I really appreciate it.

How would you feel about my posting your comments on my blog? I could use your name or not use your name - your choice - or I'll not use your comment if you prefer. Thanks for considering the possibility.

Hal Vaughan: So how come lovers tend to say, "Let's get naked together," (or "Let's get nekkid together") instead of "Let's get nude together?"

You can post my comments and, heck, you can even use my full name if you want.

#1: Let's get naked and let Susan paint us=)
So, #7, is your last name really "Peeler"? hee hee.

#9: After we voted to accept a nude figure painter for an exhibition at a local art center, one of the committee members quit, saying, "this is a family art center, and my ten-year-old can't handle nudes." Another member said, "Well, better not take him to Italy."

Susan Singer
That reminds me of a student of mine whose brother wouldn't go to the National Gallery in DC because he didn't want his 16-year-old daughter to see the nudes. Two years later, mind you, that same daughter won an all expense paid trip to Paris for a painting she did of her and her boyfriend - both nude from the waist up!

I don't think it works to restrict children from life.

Hal Vaughan: "I don't think it works to restrict children from life."

I wish "The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg" (http://tinyurl.com/y8s92pz) by Mark Twain were mandatory reading for EVERYONE before they turned 18. It's a short story and I strongly recommend it. It's about a town that protects everyone from temptation, so once they're faced with it, they don't know how to respond.

I taught for a year in a fundamentalist church school (I needed a job!) and saw so many false limits placed on kids that would one day be out in the world facing all the things their parents hid from them

Hiding the truth of life from kids is just stupid. They'll see it all soon enough -- should they face it with guidance or when they can legally do it all and don't have any of the restrictions they do when living with Mom and Dad?

#1: Love the story Susan. It's not about restriction for me, it's about maturity and the ability of a very young person to have a place in their head for certain information and images. Adult content and sex are two different things.

Susan Singer
#1, I'm interested in what you're saying - I agree completely about kids being exposed to porn (I'm thinking that's what you mean by "adult content" - images and information they're not ready for. My son had a very bizarre experience once - he was bringing our garbage cans around back from the street and saw some porn magazines in them - ... someone had apparently thrown them in there for some weird reason. My son was very confused and weirded out by what he saw - he was maybe 8 or 9. That was obviously not helpful for him.

I also think that if kids see nude bodies as they grow up, then nudity won't be bizarre and strange and weird and scary and strange. I'm not talking about kids watching sex or porn. Rather, I'm talking about kids seeing the authentic human body in normal settings so that it is normal for them. Then I think it is healthy and comfortable and they can grow up with a more normal view of bodies, including their own.

#1: Personally, I like your work, you are very accomplished. As a 57 yr. old, I have a hard time with the aging process and gravity, as it were. I'm planning a show on my Birthday, Oct. 12 and am planning a "nude" presenation along with the name "Abstract Revealed". hee hee. I'm scared.

I'm planning a photo of me in front of one of my really large paintings, painted as well? Most of me anyway. I've go to loose 10lbs. My kids are gonna die! and my mom.

#1: In Mexico, there little statues of couples, making love, all over the place in perfect view of children. There is a very large sculpture, on a playground in Mexico City of a woman laying on her side and the kids can go into her mouth and come out of her bottom? It's weird, but there aren't too many secrets, it appears.

Hal Vaughan: Susan: Are you saying that bodies in porn aren't authentic?!?! But they're real human bodies! They're real flesh and blood and steroids and silicone and ... oh, never mind!

When I was a kid my parents let me try beer -- hated the taste but I'd try it every now and then, hoping I developed a taste for it. The same with wine, but after about 12, ... I kind of liked wine and they'd let me have a glass. Then when all the other kids were making a big deal out of drinking, some said, "It was never a big deal to me, since my parents let me try it when I was a kid." Well, it was so little of a deal because of how my parents handled it, that I didn't even realize it wasn't a big deal -- it was a total non-issue for me.

I think if we weren't so uptight about nudity, Hugh Hefner would not be a millionaire and the same with Larry Flint and all others like them. Men wouldn't pay money for naked bodies if it weren't such a big deal.

Hal Vaughan: #1, I'm 47 and in denial. Honestly, though, after spending years running a business 24/7 (which is why Susan hasn't seen me at Meeting for a good while!), I'm getting in better shape and I've become addicted to ballroom dancing, which is really helping me as I challenge myself in that field. It's great to see myself losing weight and getting ... back in shape.

Many men wear shirts slit open to the waist. I won't be doing that for a long while -- likely never, but there certainly is no shame of one's body in ballroom competition!

#1: I agree that porn and nudity are two different things. Nude ballroom dancing would be interesting. Where would you put the top hat then?

I'm just kidding Hal. I think nude ballroom dancing would be pretty. Back to that weight thing, having fun and loosing weight at the same time. Cool. I don't dance or run anymore. This is hard.

#10: Susan... I've been following your work for a few years (ever since I saw them in Richmond a few years ago when Mom and I came to visit) and have been a fan. You bring an elegance, a quiet beauty, a comfortable quality to the subjects you paint -- I see them as "art" and not "pornography" but then I like to think I'm not so offended by the nude body (there are some people I would just LOVE to see nude... Johnny Depp, Daniel Craig, the list goes on... ha!) and art is totally subjective. As is literature, music, religion. I've been pondering your questions, too, and I can tell you from MY point of view that I've only recently been comfortable in my own "skin" so to speak. I live alone (for now!) and frequently make the run from my bedroom on the 1st floor to the laundry room on the 2nd floor completely naked to fish clothes out of the dryer... always peaking around the corner to make sure my neighbors or yard guys are not in front of the front door where they'd see me in all my gloriousness as I dash up the stairs. However, in doing so, I feel a little tinge of "how cool and comfortable am I to be doing this" despite not wanting my neighbors to see -- its not out of embarrassment for my nakedness, its out of not wanting to make them uncomfortable the next time they see me at the mailbox. Having said that, I've been keeping my request for you to paint ME on the tip of my tongue for a few months. Still not convinced that I could pose for you, being family... my own mother hasn't seen me naked since I was little! But yet I have no problem changing clothes in front of my girl friends or, for that matter, my boyfriend and I've walked through the house in an over sized t-shirt and underwear in front of his 7 year old son without batting an eye. I think I have a beautiful, womanly body and I do admire it in the mirror when I get out of the shower and would be proud to have a painting - especially by my cousin - on display. But yet I think I would have to hide it when my boyfriend's son was visiting.

I'm curious to hear what you have to say in response. ♥

Hal Vaughan: #1, nude ballroom dancing would be rather awkward, especially at higher levels where one uses a rather close hold and, honestly, clothes keep the dangly bits from getting in the way.

Plus, in truth, it's no fun having to stick your right hand into a number of armpits during the summer with the inexperienced woman dancers who don't wear actual sleeves and go with straps instead.

I think that brings up the other end of the range. While one can be comfortable and unashamed of being nude, I've only recently discovered there can be a good side to dressing up. For most of my life I had the Quaker attitude that simplicity was better and fancier clothes were just a way of hiding one's self. I always hated anything more formal than jeans and a t-shirt, but now I love the chance to put on my tux, like in my avatar, where I have a top-hat, tails, white gloves, and even a dance cane. I don't think an acceptance of nudity or formal clothing necessarily negates an acceptance and/or appreciation of the other.

#7: Yes, #1, my name is really Peeler which is synonymous with strippers as well as the police there is even a store in Hollywood called Peeler's that sells clothing with these subjects as motifs.

I have children and an art degree and I have taken my 7 year old to all the museums I can since he was a baby. He has seen lots of nudity, we have always had a Waterhouse print in our living room which has beautiful nude water nymphs as the subject. He has no problem with any of this. He was also nursing at 3-1/2 and his baby brother is being nursed now he is not bothered by any of it and is also respectful of everyone bodies and privacy and knows what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior when it comes to our bodies. I do think he might be troubled by seeing our neighbors gardening and doing assorted home maintenance in the buff though, I could be wrong I am sure he would be concerned for their safety.

#1: Bravo gentlemen! Thanks for the personal, can't wait to meet you all sometime, maybe at an art opening?

Susan Singer
#7, I have raised my kids the way you're raising yours. It was admittedly challenging for them when I was working on my 12 Naked Men series when they were teenagers - at times they would refuse to have friends over unless I took the pictures down. I worry that might have been weird for them - but now when I ask my 18-year-old if I need to take stuff down, he just looks at me and says, "Mom, I am SO over that!" He actually has two friends who are girls who draw the female figure themselves. They have conversations about the female body frequently. How many 18-year-old young men could do that with a straight face and a modicum of comfort?!

Authentic Flesh showing in October

Drum roll, please!

For all of you who have been wondering when you're ever going to get a chance to see these beautiful women I've been painting in real life, your wait will soon be over!  I don't know if you'll get to see the women themselves, but you can definitely come see the paintings!

Here's the press release we'll be sending out this week - you're the first to know!

Susan Singer – painting all the naked women in Richmond, one at a time…

Richmond, VA – Visual Art Studio is pleased to announce the Opening Reception First Friday, October 1, 2010 of Authentic Flesh, the newest series of paintings to come from the brush of the talented Susan Singer. Coming several years after her provocative and very successful life size pastel series, 12 Naked Men, Authentic Flesh is meant to awaken the viewer to the beauty of the female form in all of its variations. Singer has exquisitely painted women from age 23 to age 89, from the excruciatingly thin to the quite portly, all of them emanating the power of their individual form and being.

In today’s society, the media seems to be in charge of creating the image people have of the “perfect” woman’s body. Singer hopes to crash through the belief that a woman must be tall and rail thin to be beautiful. She presents women who are beautiful because they feel gorgeous. They live authentically within their own skin and feel great about themselves – perhaps not always - but that is the overall feeling that one gets from looking at these luminescent paintings. The women radiate in their own beauty and show us what it can be like to be a person who knows her own worth.

Authentic Flesh, sure to be a blockbuster show, will premier at Visual Art Studio at 208 W. Broad Street, on First Friday, October 1, 2010. It will be on display, with many new works added, on First Friday, November 5th as well, and will close Wednesday, November 24th.

For more information, please contact Anne Hart Chay at Visual Art Studio, 804-644-1368 or the artist at www.SusanSinger.com .