DR SKETCHY'S ANTI ART SCHOOOL
As Dr Sketchy's Anti Art School celebrates its first birthday party at the Arches, Rosalie Doubal talks to creator Molly Crabapple and enjoys her first cheeky taste of
the international burlesque life drawing phenomenon
blame after—school ‘buff club‘ for the prudish apprehension I felt on entering Dr Sketchy’s
Anti Art School. The life drawing class of
my youth utterly succeeded in repressing my schoolgirl giggle. Week after week the models’ towelling gowns would fall open to reveal assorted floppy appendages. nipples of varying shapes and sizes and bristly pubic hair. Armed
12 THE LIST 7—14 Aug 2008
only with a sheet of sugar paper and a stick of charcoal. my experience of life drawing was hardly uplifting or titillating.
Following my visit to Dr Sketcliy‘s. which aims to counter the sterility of the traditional life class with the provision of gin. music. dance and — thank heavens! — tiny pieces of bejewelled clothing. my inner prude and l have now made our peace.
The models at Dr Sketchy"s are burlesque starlets. contortionists. vaudeville jugglers and tattooed beefcakes. Snappy poses. accompanied by live music. are interspersed with performances and competitions. Born in 2005 of
‘I DID WHAT ANY AMBITIOUS YOUNG TROLEOP DOES AND STARTED KING IN THE
D GIRL STRY'
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an artist‘s fantasy of Bohemian excess. Dr Sketcliy’s has grown from an unassuming infancy in the achineg cool New York district of Williamsburg to become an international phenomenon. spawning branches in over 50 cities around the world. a book. calendar.
jewellery — even an lidinburgh Fringe show.
‘We get everyone from art students to professional illustrators to cubicle-slaves who need their creativity stoked.’ says artist. illustrator and founder of the Sketchy"s franchise. Molly Crabapple. ‘lior experienced artists. we offer a life-drawing session unlike any other. For someone just getting into art. we're a supportive. non-tlu‘eatening envirotmtent.’
Comfortable with drawing myself. yet desperate to test the limits of this supposedly hon-threatening environment‘. I decided to take my friend. a primary school teacher and art novice. to a class at Glasgow‘s Arches. After all. everyone knows that teachers can only draw bubble-head people with stick legs. right‘.’
Following a brief introduction from hostess Lucille Burns we set about sketching. While drawing our lirst model. the heavily pregnant nautical nymphettc Petit (‘hou Chou. my friend concentrated on getting the model’s sailor hat
just right. It was the bump. however. that
proved the richest source of creativity for the