A large part of my professional practice is working from the nude model.  In our orientation at the AGO there are written guidelines regarding addressing nudity within the artworks when dealing with the different ages of children.  A search on the internet unearths other such guidelines for educational institutions.  The issue of the nude is so complex and very much tied to  our cultural and social norms.  

At party’s when when people find out that i run and facilitate Life Drawing - the question never goes to my work or the artists but to behaviours of the model and around the model - adults, never mind kids, still struggle with overcoming the idea of the naked body and viewing it separated from its sexual purpose.  i repeatedly state that i feel life drawing should be a mandatory course or workshop in every high school curriculum.  Rarely do we get to really see a body, one that is not Photoshoped, sexualized or commodified in some way.  When we draw from the nude or view it in art we are forced to confront its reality, the beauty, the complexity and sometime its ugliness - which is also heart wrenchingly beautiful.  

My aspiration of universal Life Drawing i know is ridiculous but we have a responsibility to engage people of all ages in this discussion of the human condition and nudity in art over advertising forces a discussion.  i think it is uncomfortable for many because it ceases to be visual noise and gets treated as a dialogue where we are forced to engage - whether we like it or not.

i found a great source tied to the Utah Museum of Fine Art: “Teaching the Nude in Art” which has a comprehensive dialogue on why we should teach about nudes, issues of censorship, examples of art and lesson plans.  i wouldn’t have thunk it from Utah - see stereotypes are broken daily!

http://centralpt.com/upload/417/12396_teachingnudeslessonplans.pdf