Body shop

Artists studying the human form find their muse at Hipbone Studio

By Kate Gawf

The Portland Tribune, Jun 13, 2003, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Finding a nude model when you need one isn’t easy. It’s even harder to find a good one.

Artists almost everywhere have that problem. But in Portland they have Hipbone Studio.

For 16 years this unconventional business, tucked away in a residential Southeast neighborhood next to a popular Italian restaurant, has catered to artists who wish to study the human form with expert models.

Professional models, who charge fees a lone artist usually can’t afford, are accessible here because the cost is spread among many.

Hiring the models is the domain of Jeff Burke, who founded Hipbone in 1987 with then-partner Sharon Chalem.

“A good model has stage presence,” says Burke, 49, speaking from 25 years of art modeling experience. “I see this as a theatrical event. The platform is a stage. The models have to be good actors. They have to evoke a certain narrative or an emotion with their bodies. They have to demonstrate a variety of ways of being in the body. And obviously, they have to be comfortable being still.

“But even more obviously,” he adds, “They have to show up on time.”

The open drawing sessions, where artists can spend three full hours drawing their fingers to the nub for a paltry $8, have been Hipbone’s big draw since the beginning. The sessions take place each Friday evening and Saturday morning. They begin with three-minute gesture poses, and gradually evolve into longer poses lasting from five to 45 minutes.

The brief poses lend themselves most readily to media such as pencil and charcoal. Extended poses, in which the models hold exactly the same position on three consecutive Thursdays, are preferred by artists working with slower media such as paint or clay.

Hipbone’s clients often find themselves signing up for the studio’s other offerings, such as Burke’s anatomy courses, in which he illustrates muscle movement on his own body, the body of another model, a reconstructed skeleton named Mort and a collection of bones.

Before moving to Portland in 1987, Burke was a model for 15 years in New York City, where he was immersed in so many art classes that he became a serious student of art education. He was exposed to a

variety of methods, styles of teaching and student populations.

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