THIRD FRIDAYS
JUNE–NOVEMBER
11AM–2PM

ALL SESSIONS WILL STREAM LIVE OVER ZOOM

Learn how to accurately and ethically depict Black art models with the help of instruction given by Black artists. During each three-hour workshop, professional Black art models will be posing live or you at Berkeley Art Center while Black art instructors virtually teach you about varied topics including portraiture (how to render African phenotypes and Black facial features), the many shades of Black (how to create African skin tones), and Black hair (from braids to head wraps). Poses will vary and range from gestures, portraiture, and longer poses. The model will be nude, sparsely clad, costumed, or a bit of all of the above depending on the instructor’s lesson plan.

Individuals of all backgrounds are welcome and encouraged to join every Figure ‘n Color workshop.

Figure ‘n Color is an art model–led figurative drawing experience that highlights and celebrates the diverse Black body. Curated as a cultural learning event, Figure ‘n Color is a hub for models and artists, providing resources and instruction on how to accurately and ethically render Black artist models.

ABOUT THE CURATORS

The curators of Figure ‘n Color are Black fine art models alluris-michele and Titania Kumeh.

TITANIA KUMEH (she/her) has worked as an artist model in the Bay Area and beyond for more than a dozen years. She is a board member in the Bay Area Models Guild, the longest running art model–led collective in the United States. When not posing and organizing her own figure drawing events, Titania enjoys screaming at benefit shows with her punk band Big Freak. She’s into writing + creating performance art about her African-Caribbean origins and her first-generation experiences. And she loves hanging out and striving towards Black queer liberation with friends. See some of her work on Instagram @titaniaartmodel 

alluris-michele (she/her/they) is an intuitively led creative visionary, curator and art model. a bay area native, alluris’ art modeling journey began in atlanta, georgia, where it expanded off of the modeling stand to curating events such as nudtopia, Pangea’s Garden: AfroSocial (held at the famous Apache Cafe), model coaching, and coordinating the musical lineup for Afro Rythmia, a music + art festival. alluris’ connection to their ancestors is the driving force behind their life, creative expression + personhood. she is also a member of the Bay Area Models Guild and can be found socially (not being social) on instagram @theealluringone

Session 6
November 19, 11:00AM - 2:00PM

ATELIER NOIR, FIGURE DRAWING with instructor Patricia Reneé Thomas and model Nikita

About the Instructor:

Patricia Reneé Thomas is a Philadelphia-based painter, drawer, and art educator, with a BFA from Tyler School of Art and Architecture and a current 2021 MFA candidate at University of Pennsylvania's Weitzman School of Design. Thomas has recently completed her one-year 40th Street Artist Residency and debuted her first West Coast solo show Honey Suckles in West Hollywood's New Image Art Gallery 2019, and two solo shows at Kravets-Wehby Gallery in Chelsea, New York and Kapp Kapp Gallery in Philadelphia in 2020. She is recently a 2021 recipient of the Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art in collaboration with The Colored Girls Museum and Main Line Arts Center. Thomas was an arts educator at Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia; a Black History and social justice community staple and is currently an oil painting and drawing instructor at Tyler School of Art and Architecture Continuing Education.

About the Model:

Miss Nikki Baby, she/her, is a black trans artist in the Bay Area. She is a dancer/rapper, who is out her doing the dang thing. Follow her on Instagram @fancybruja666123