Ladies Art Salon Sessions(LASS) Women-only art group

Hi, I'm Lins & I'm super-excited to launch this new, innovative art class just for adult women of all shapes/sizes/ages etc, to celebrate art, our lives, bodies & the warm community of sisterhood!

(....just to add, the first 15x tickets are discounted at only £10 each...whohooo!! Use the code: LoveLASS )

MY OWN ART MODEL JOURNEY/BACKGROUND:

I've been an art model myself (clothed/portrait/life/costumed) since July 2021 to support my History PhD (it's re. Italian Renaissance Women + their agency/resilience), which I'm currently studying at the University of Bristol.

I've art modelled for over 500 artists in London, St. Ives, Bath, Exeter, Florence etc, at prestigious art schools/for private artists/for regular professional art groups, as a portrait model/a life model/a costumed model/a model wearing my regular clothes/an animation model in a red catsuit (we were creating 'Cat Woman'!! Fun days!) & in many other guises...

I've been painted/sketched in pencil, charcoal, pastels, oils, watercolours, acrylics ....& photographed & even cast into a bronze sculpture..it's been such a fantastic, wonderful, wild, exhilerating journey that I never anticipated I'd be lucky enough to experience in my mid-forties just as my own daughters have been setting out in their own lives (& this can be a time when as women, we sometimes feel we've lost ourselves...BUT I can promise you, that sense of adventure, is definitely still there!)

I've met so many incredible, wonderful artists of all abilities along the way - some of whom are brilliant friends now...some create paintings/sculptures, which sell for tens of thousands of pounds all over the world & exhibit at The Royal Academy in London & other esteemed venues ....WHILST ....some others are sketching in pencil for their own benefit & to escape from daily life....

.....I've also been on the other side a few times too, drawing a model

HOW MY EXPERIENCES LINK TO MY NEW ART GROUP: LASS

Because of my own experiences of modelling at over 30x different art classes/venues in the UK/Italy (& lots of discussions with so many different women), I realised that there is a niche gap in art classes - which my Ladies Art Salon Sessions (LASS) is going to fill.....

& it's going to include the best bits of all the different art venues I've art modelled at...

Anyway, the art gap is:

For all kinds of reasons, lots of women would love to create art in an all-female art session & absolutely, that includes all art abilities (you don't even have to have sketched anything since you were at school - it really doesn't matter ...OR you could be a professional artist already)....EVERY woman is welcome!

Also lots of women would love to have a go at being an art model themselves (whether clothed/portrait/life/costumed)...

& lots of women would love to do both things in a warm, welcoming weekly art session where they can drink some fizz (or a gorgeous non-boozy equivalent); browse vintage clothes/accessories for sale (+ bring their own to sell); book an express holistic facial * & even book a Sculpture School 'Taster Day' course (I also work at The Sculpture School in North Tawton, where we create beautiful bronze human/animal sculptures).

...so this is why I'm creating LASS!

THE STRUCTURE OF LASS EVENING CLASSES:

The LASS Sessions will run as follows:

7:20pm - Drinks on Arrival & everyone to get set-up

7:30pm-8:50pm - Art drawing/painting of our female model begins with a brief 5 min break half-way through (poses are 2/5/15/25 mins)

8:50pm-9pm - A chance to browse through the vintage clothes/accessories/chat/book express facials & other events (i.e. Our Special Christmas Cocktails LASS event + I'll be giving monthly talks based on my PhD re: some incredible inspiring women from history incl. art history, such as Artemisia Gentileschi & also re: the concepts of women taking agency/finding resilience strategies - which are also part of my PhD; these talks will be held separately & will be deeply empowering as what I have researched has empowered me enormously!)

NOTES RE: ATTENDING &/OR MODELLING AT LASS:

My aim for LASS is that ALL adult women feel they can come & make art in our sessions, no matter what ability you have (beginners absolutely welcome!) The Lass sessions are untutored & you need to bring your own art materials but easels are available.

I want any adult woman of any shape, size, age to feel that they can have a wonderful experience at LASS of celebrating life, art & female community. I've worked with a lot of artists who have health conditions - such as cancer - or disabilities - & my aim is that any woman going through any difficult life challenge (or not!) can come along & feel joy in creating art & forget their worries during our sessions.

You don't have to be going through any difficulties to come to LASS - you can just be your jolly self, however, if currently, you are going through pregnancy, menopause, grief, divorce, abandonment, empty nest syndrome, anxiety at being at university, feeling lonely, whatever - then LASS is here to help you because it will be a gorgeous, positive, happy safe haven of fun/art! (My own dad died in July 2024, so I understand grief & I've also gone through divorce, raising children etc...I trained as a Counsellor, so that's helped - but LASS sessions aren't counselling sessions - they are fun, welcoming, upbeat ART sessions for women to find joy/peace/a time to relax, have a giggle & escape the craziness of our daily lives).

We will often be using professional art models of all shapes/sizes/ages over 18, including more mature women - which is what I'd also like to encourage as so many older women have told me that they'd love to have a go at art modelling but feel too old/too body conscious/too judged....& this is what I want to dispel - I don't want any women to feel uncomfortable about their bodies/looks/age....I want to celebrate life/bodies/faces in art at all stages of adult womenhood - after all, we are so lucky to be alive, so let's forget all the usual angst we feel about age/shape/lines etc & just damn well enjoy ourselves, capturing a moment, now, in art.

HAVING A GO AT BEING AN ART MODEL AT LASS:

If any woman (aged 18+ to as old as you like! I've had a 90-year-old apply to model! Fab!) would like to have a go at being our model - please email me: [email protected] ; You will be paid £30 to model per session at LASS. Each model can choose their own poses & whether they are gowned-up in a special costume, a.k.a. 'cosprop'/a portrait model/a nude 'life' model/or wearing some of their regular clothes....but we will need life models pretty regularly as life modelling is the 'spine' of art drawing groups (also life modelling really helps anyone wanting to become a human figure bronze sculptor - as I will explain in our sessions), so life modelling will be expected quite often...but I don't want any woman who would like to model but really doesn't want to life model, to feel they can't have a go at art modelling - hence the flexibility of choosing how you want to model & what in! (I have to say being a life model is incredibly empowering! It is truly liberating & especially amidst a group of women; it makes you feel very at peace with your body - but I want all of my models to have the choice).

Anyway, apols for the HUGE amount of info here, but far better to have the full lowdown of the LASS experience (& just to add, that I plan to start a regular, weekly morning LASS session from early in 2026, to run alongside the LASS evening sessions).

...IF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES:

If you have any queries re. LASS, just drop me a line at: [email protected]

DISABLED ACCESS/CAR PARKING/VENUE LOCATION:

One final thing: our venue has disabled access & there are 4x reservable car parking spaces for blue badge holders - but please contact Exeter Community Centre to reserve these. With regards to other car parking - there is some local street parking/nearby pay+display car parks. Also re: venue location, Exeter Community Centre is very central to the city centre, being a 5-min walk from Exeter's Guildhall Shopping Centre/clocktower & a 10-min walk from Exeter University.

Anyway that's all for now! Ladies - I can't wait to see you at LASS!! (please spread the word).

Lins **

*holistic facials are bookable between 6:15pm-7:15pm at the same venue, same night starting from Mon eve, 8/12/25; those attending on Mon eve, 1/12/25 will be given a free facial voucher for another LASS session as Mon eve 1/12/25 will be our debut LASS session! Anyone booking a holistic facial will need to fill in a medical form first as some medical conditions mean that a holistic facial is unfortunately not suitable.

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