Mike Ananian's Painting Classes

     Mike Ananian teaches painting as well as drawing at UNC-Greensboro. I have posed for a number of his painting classes since 1996. These photos are from painting classes in McIver, before the studio art classes were moved to the new Maud Gatewood Building on the other side of Spring Garden St. Mike, like many other painting/drawing teachers, likes the use of props, so that the model is put in some kind of context. 


     He has had me pose with an old trombone, and I have posed with my own props - sticks, swords (of which I have 3) and a Commanche courting flute I made from a kit. Most of the paintings in this post are from a pose with a ukelele, one of many props accumulated for painting and drawing classes. Note that Belinda, in her painting, included all the props around me, including my green robe which I draped over one of the chairs; you can easily see by comparing the photo of me posing with her painting. 

     During the last class session, the idea of a "class photo" came up. I mentioned that I had staged such a photo before, with James Rosen's figure drawing class at Augusta College in the spring of 1991, and that I would be willing to pose with the class wearing my "working clothes," i.e., none at all. The timer worked well on this version. We did another version with me reclining on a table in front of the group, but that one was snapped by one of the students, and I never got a copy of it. Another photo here shows a student contemplating her painting with me posing in the background.