Life Drawing Model Pose Nude for Arts in Sheffield

The life drawing classes’ atmosphere is quiet and serious in order to concentrate.

Outside of London, Sheffield has the largest population of amateur, working and professional artists in the United Kingdom. It is indeed an amazing place with numerous art galleries around, exhibiting not just safe artworks but with various themes showing how passionate Sheffielders are in art. Also, the astonishing diversity of different ranges artists specialise in various types of art such as landscape drawing or life drawing, it transmits the lively artistic environment all around Sheffield.

In Sheffield, it is not too difficult to spot an artist around you doing a landscape drawing or a life drawing. However, there are not many life drawing models available in Sheffield, or other places. It is a simple fact that a group of life drawing artists is sharing a life drawing model in a class, and so much harder to be a life drawing model than a life drawing artist.

A life drawing model’s first experience

Helen Holderness, 43, has been a part-time life drawing model for a year in Sheffield. She used to model for a couple of times when she was 18 back in her college. Helen said: “When I first came back being a life drawing model, it was terrifying at first. But I got clicked into the situation very quickly. It was a strange feeling having people looking at me when there are no clothes on.”

She added that at first she had a feeling of everybody is judging on her body figure. In fact, the artists were actually focusing on her curves and also the shape that she was making. Then everything went smooth and easy when the intensity goes off.

Inspiration being a life drawing model

Helen feels comfortable during the life drawing lessons.

Like everybody else, Helen is an ordinary office lady with a little spice after working hours, being a life drawing model as her part-time job. A year ago, she was introduced by her friend to model at Kelham Island Art Co-operative (KIAC) and she could not think of a reason to say no.

To Helen, working as a life drawing model is an easy task to earn a good pay. A life model is required to be discipline and really concentrate when posing for artists at different amount of time according to demand. It sounds easy to stay in a pose but it is tricky to hold it for a period of time without moving that much. In fact, a life model is able to earn up to £30 in 3 hours without really using physical strength.

There is nothing to hold somebody back from being a life drawing model

Helen said there are no boundaries set up for people who are interested in being a life drawing model. It does not matter if you have figure well build muscle or being overweight, the artists do not really care about this.

As long as a person feels comfortable to pose nude in front of strangers and being able to hold a pose for a length of time, he or she will be capable to be a life drawing model.

Although Helen feels strange to pose nude in front of the strangers, but she said that the feeling will not last for long because they do not know about her in real life and they do not have to talk and getting to know each other more.

Supports from friends and family

There are many ways to complete a life drawing piece including using water colour.

Apart from working as part-time life drawing model, Helen is also a roller derby player. Her friends and family are proud of her modelling for life drawing lessons. At some point, her roller derby friends were impress with her courage because they thought it is so much harder to pose naked in front of strangers compared to the hardcore roller derby game.

Helen’s boyfriend is being very supportive to her working as a part-time life drawing model. He thinks it is fun and great to have a job like this. Although he is an artist as well, he never draws Helen back at home. Her family never has a problem with her modelling nude. Helen said: “My parents are fine with what I’m doing. I’m old enough to make mistakes of my own.” After all, posting nude for art is not a criminal action.

Getting stared with life drawing lessons

If you are interested in being a life drawing artist yet you have not got the chance to do it, do not hesitate to join the life drawing classes at the Kelham Island Art Co-operative (KIAC). Or, if you have the thought of being a life drawing model, you might want to find out more at KIAC.

Also, click here to find out more about the information of life drawing lessons at Kelham Island, Sheffield.

Sheffield’s Kelham Island is Not All About Steel Industrial and Brewing Real Ale, Life Drawing Lessons by Kelham Island Art Co-operative is Another Hidden Secret

The life drawing presents the beauty of a human’s body figure.

 

Sheffield has the history of art for thousands of years. It has a rich and varied collection of over 5,000 paintings, water colours, prints, drawings, photographs and sculptures that portray the development of British and European art from 17^th century to date. And life drawing is one of the famous art genre in Sheffield.

Life drawing is a study of human form in its various shapes and body postures – sitting, standing or even sleeping. Its recognition dated back through 2000 years in the history. Being nakedly to be drawn is considered as immoral in some people’s perceptions, but there are small amounts of people in Sheffield deem life drawing as an artistic work.

 

Life as a professional life drawing artist

Lynne Chapman, 52, who is an illustrator for the children’s books in Sheffield, is passionate in life drawing since she was young. Lynne said: “I supposed to do life drawing since I was a student and has stopped for six years because just little thing happened in my life made me have to put it aside. Then something came along and reminds me how much I used to enjoy it. Then it gets started again about nine months ago.”

She said that being an artist of life drawing is not an easy job. Lynne explained: “It’s always difficult, you have to concentrate, so it is incredibly hard that you can’t think of anything else and it just drives all level of thoughts from various reasons and obsessions out of mind. So, you have to focus totally on it.”

However, Lynne has never thought to give up her enthusiasm in life drawing.

 

“I cannot afford to buy a house at London,” said Lynne

Lynne comes originally from London, worked as a freelance illustrator at that time. As a freelancer in London with low wages, she has no choice but to leave London. Lynne said: “I moved to Sheffield because I can afford to buy a house here.” Although Lynne has been in Sheffield for 20 years, she does miss many things back in London such as the hustle and bustle of a big city life.

 

Lynne Chapman (left) with Derek, one of the masterminds of “You Think You Know Sheffield?”.

 

However, Lynne added that she can get anything she wants here in Sheffield, with a lower price compared to London.

Now she works as an illustrator of life drawing in Kelham Island Art Co-operative (KIAC), one of the organisations of art in Kelham Island.

 

About Kelham Island Art Co-operative

 

Simon Wigglesworth-Baker said KIAC provides a place for artists to work with cheaper charges.

 

Kelham Island Art Co-operative (KIAC) is an organisation that aims to provide good and creative studio space for local artists as cheap as possible and to spread the culture of art into local community. Simon Wigglesworth-Baker, 52, is one of the founder members of KIAC and he took over life drawing lessons in Sheffield about a year ago. Simon said: “We have classes on Wednesday which is life-drawing and the Thursday class is sculpture lesson.”

Besides KIAC, there are a few more art galleries or studios based here in Sheffield. One of them is the Millennium Gallery. Simon explained: “KIAC offers cheaper rate for a studio space to artists and encourages people to come here, making good quality of artworks.”

 

Life drawing lessons with a demand in Sheffield

Generally, people who come here to join life drawing lessons are mostly students, people who are really interested in life drawing and also professional artists. Simon said that most of the people get to know that there is this life drawing lessons going on here by words of mouth.

So far, the life drawing lessons have met the demand or artists in Sheffield.

 

Get in touch with KIAC and Lynne

 

Simon (second from left) with Aris, Sim Yen and Zoe, masterminds of “You Think You Know Sheffield?”.

 

If you are enthusiastic in joining life drawing lessons in Sheffield, you are welcome to KIAC organisation in Kelham Island and Simon will help you to arrange the time for the classes. The price is £5 pounds each person for an hour.

Or, if you are interested to know more about Lynne’s profession, do visit her website to find out more.

Apart from that, you will want to click here to reveal a life drawing model’s life.

 

Heyday of Real Ale at Sheffield’s Kelham Island Brewery

The Fat Cat Pub is the former place to brew the real ale.

 

Sheffield is well known as the city of steel where it produced steel during the industrial heyday. And Kelham Island is one of the most popular Sheffield’s Quarters during that time as it is situated alongside the River Don and it served water wheels to power the workshops around that area. However when time passes, Kelham Island is no longer on its industrial heyday but a home to an industrial museum. Yet, there is a building that stands out among the museums and pubs – the Kelham Island Brewery.

 

History of Kelham Island Brewery

Kelham Island Brewery is founded by late Dave Wickett, the owner of the Fat Cat Club in 1990. Originally, the brewery is at the back of The Fat Cat Pub. But they moved across the road to a larger building after they have gained so much attention from the residents of that area and tourists. Both the pub and brewery have become a popular destination for tourists ever since.

Now, their brewery brews about 250,000 lbs. of real ale per week which are being served in the Fat Cat Pub and also being sold in Kelham Island Brewery Shop. The business even expands towards selling merchandises of the Fat Cat Pub such as T-shirts.

 

Real ale once an old man’s drink

It has been few centuries since ale is produced in England and people are drinking it ever since. Ever since lager brewery is being introduced, people have slowly forgotten what the real ale really is, especially the young generation. Part of the young people think that it is not cool drinking real ale simply because of the packaging design looks out of fashion. That is why real ale is once labelled as old men’s drink just because people are stereotyping it.

 

Michael Williams, the sales manager of Kelham Island Brewery explained the trend of drinking real ale.

 

Michael Williams, sales manager of Kelham Island Brewery said: “Maybe it’s because historically people have been brewing ale for hundreds of years and lager is quite a new kind of alcoholic drink. But we’re getting more and more young people like students drink ale. You don’t want to wake up with such a bad headache, because there is no gas and chemicals in the ale, it’s all natural.”

Back in the past, the sales of real ale among young people are less compared to people aged 40 to 50. Only a few years back, young people are getting started to discover the real deal of drinking real ale.

He said: “There are a lot more flavours in ale, with different tastes. People want something a little bit more exciting and more flavours. If you put a lager and ale like Pale Rider or Easy Rider, and you taste both, you’ll find there’re lots of differences and ale has more flavours. That’s why people drink ale because it tastes better and not always boring.”

 

Brew according to customers’ needs

Kelham Island Brewery has more than 20 years of experience in brewing real ale. They even have their own brewer who does a lot of experiments on real ale just to come out with new flavours.

He said: “Our brewer, Iain did a lot of experiments. He likes to experiment and try on with new hops from all over the world and also different sorts of malts. That’s why we can change our ale regularly. If our customers suddenly decided they don’t want a stout for instants, we can brew paler ale. It they are going off for paler ale, we can brew them a ruby mild ale.”

 

The brewing process is going on.

 

With lots of different flavours of ale, it takes 5 to 7 days to brew depends on the alcohol by volume (ABV). If it’s stronger ale, it takes more time to ferment.

 

Future development for Kelham Island Brewery

 

Michael Williams (right) with Sim Yen, one of the masterminds of “You Think You Know Sheffield?”.

 

Kelham Island Brewery has brewed real ale for 22 years and it has its own customer base. So far, there are no big changes for their future plan for the brewery, as they want to keep on track with what they have now.

Williams said: “I think we’re alright as we are. We got a good customer base; we sell out all the ales that we made. One thing for sure is that, we’re going to have more and more different flavours coming out to cater the needs of our customers.”

 

Visit the mecca of real ale at Kelham Island Brewery

If you are interested to find out more about the history of Kelham Island Brewery, you might want to join the Brewery Tours on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evening from 7.30pm to 9.30pm with the charges of £10 and get a taste of real ale on the house of Kelham Island Brewery.

For more, please visit the Kelham Island Brewery website here.

 

Curators House Tea Room with A Greener View at Sheffield Botanical Garden

 

Curators House Tea Room is situated in the Sheffield Botanical Gardens, a historical park that was first established in 1836. It is a tea room which consists of glass conservatory, outdoor terrace and visitor facilities surrounded of garden.

42 year old recent tenant, Jane Purdy said: “Compared to other tea rooms in Sheffield, Curators House Tea Room is unique because of the beautiful garden view in Botanical Garden, and this is also the reason why I chose to start my business here.”

The building of Curators House Tea Room was originally constructed on the instructions of the second owners of the Gardens, the Sheffield Botanical and Horticultural Society, for John Law, the third Curator, in the late 1840s. It was the home of the Gardens’ curators until 1994. When the first owners, also known as the Sheffield Botanical and Horticultural Society, ran into financial trouble in the early 1840s, this first house was let to a tenant at £40 per year. It was eventually demolished in 1900-1 when Clarkehouse Road was widened. Jane is now the second tenant of Curators House.

 

Jane Purdy, 42, is happy with what she is doing now.

 

Jane said: “Most of the good properties have been taken by chain café. There are lots of restaurants and general café in Sheffield, but you can find just a few traditional tea rooms we have in Sheffield. Curators House belongs to the city council. When I saw The Curators House was up for tender I decided to go for it.”

Jane got the lease in 2011, and she decided to give up a well-paid job as an accountant just to manage this tea house.

 

Food serving in Tea House

The traditional 3 tier tray serves with English tea.

 

Afternoon tea was first introduced in Great British by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford in the year 1840, who always struggled for hunger in the long period between the lunch and dinner. Traditional British afternoon tea was place in a 3 tier tray, with selection of sandwiches at the bottom, scone served with clotted cream and fruits jam place in the middle, and the top are cakes and pastries.

Jane said: “We do focus on the traditional afternoon tea set, however nowadays people prefer to have more selections, therefore we also provide some desserts like crème brulee, fresh cream cake, lemon meringue to attract more young generation customers.” The Curators House also serves light meals and snacks during the day.”

 

 

Seasonal menu to surprise customers

“Compare to the contemporary café like Costa and Starbuck, Curators House is much more friendly as we always cater to the needs of customers and surprise them with our daily special menu,” said Jane.

 

Andrew Brooks, 33, Head Chef of Curators House Tea Room has control in the daily special menu.

 

Andrew Brooks, 33 year old, Head Chef of Curators House said: “We don’t have rules on what we should make on the day for the daily special menu. Normally we will decide the special menu by using seasonal ingredients. Or sometimes we just do what we like.”

Apart from the strawberry jam they serve regularly, Curators House Tea Room also provides some special homemade fruit jam following the harvest season such as raspberries and pineapple jam.

 

Proper Way of Having a British Scone

The scone is a small British quick bread, traditionally hailing from Scotland. They are usually made of wheat, barley or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent. The scone is a basic component of the cream tea or Devonshire tea, with clotted cream and jam. Some people are quite adamant about the proper way to eat them whether is jam first or clotted cream first. Andrew has his own thought of eating a scone.

 

Having a traditional British afternoon tea in Curator House Tea Room

From left, Andrew and Jane with Aris and Derek, the masterminds of “You Think You Know Sheffield?”.

 

Curators House Tea Rooms operates for whole year except the day of Christmas, initially open from 8.30am to 5.30pm on weekdays, and 10am to 5.30pm on weekends. Apart from the daily business, Curator House Tea House does a lot of private functions such as company anniversary party, birthday party, wedding and even funeral.

 

 

More Oriental Supermarkets Booming into Sheffield

Vinegar, one of the ingredients you cannot miss to cook a proper Chinese cuisine.

 

With the population of 555,000 people in Sheffield, there is about 15 % of Chinese population in Sheffield. This is because of the higher level of migration to Sheffield and it has a higher birth rate in this city. When you are walking along the streets in Sheffield, you will realise there are many Chinese around you. Due to the big Chinese community in Sheffield, there are many oriental supermarkets and Chinese restaurants booming into Sheffield to meet the demand.

 

Getting know the oriental supermarkets in Sheffield

 

KH Oriental Food is the largest oriental supermarket in Sheffield.

Among the oriental supermarkets, the very first oriental market popping out on people’s mind is most likely to be the KH Oriental Food which is located at Boston Street nearby London Road. KH Oriental Food is the oldest oriental supermarket in Sheffield established since year 2005.

 

Tai Sun Oriental Supermarket appears to be popular among international students.

Tai Sun Oriental Supermarket is another famous oriental supermarket in Sheffield, which is located at Matilda Street. Having the store situated around various Chinese restaurants is a big advantage. Jay Wan, 27, the operating manager of Tai Sun Oriental Supermarket said: “The store has good location whereby many people come here to buy their goods and groceries after their meals at the restaurants around us.”

 

Oriental Mart down at West Street is the latest oriental supermarket in town.

Walking around on West Street, you can find the other oriental supermarket that is just sitting at the opposite of Tesco Metro. It is called Oriental Mart, which has been running the business in Sheffield since end of February 2012. The owner said West Street has a good geographical strategy for his business because the shop is near to students’ accommodation like Victoria Hall and Opal One.

 

Marketing strategies of the oriental supermarkets

In order to battle against their competitors, owners of different oriental supermarkets have various ways to promote their business in order to stand out among each other. Their marketing strategies have been the key element to maintain their sales and also keeping regular customers.

Serena Wong, 24, staff of KH Oriental Mart said that: “We do not have much promotion yet, but we have an online shopping website and people know about it.” The electronic commerce method allows people to buy their goods through online and enjoy the delivery service to their doorsteps. Unfortunately, the website is closed down at the moment and people have to walk in to purchase goods.

On the other hand, Tai Sun Oriental Supermarket has its own promoting strategy.

Oriental Mart is much more different compared to the two oriental supermarkets above. Mr. Yu, the owner of Oriental Mart said: “It’s not how I attract the international students, but it’s the international students inspired me to start this supermarket here in Sheffield.” He added the good location does help a lot in his business.

Apart from that, he also came across situation like this: “The bitterest memory was the customers asked for discounts but I could not make it because the rental of the shop is very expensive. I can’t afford to do so,” said Mr. Yu.

 

Local markets are not threats to oriental supermarkets

Competitions may be seen in between oriental supermarkets and local supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsburry. But, it depends on how people think about it.

Serena Wong, the staff of KH Oriental Food said: “In Tesco and Sainsburry, they do sell some Chinese groceries, but they offer limited range of goods at higher price compared to us.” Serena thinks that there is a competition but in different way because they are selling different things.

Jay Wan, the operating manager of Tai Sun Oriental Supermarket does not think there is the existence of competition. He said that: “The local supermarkets do not really affect on us because we are selling different goods, which what we sell in Tai Sun, they don’t have them.”

Mr. Yu from Oriental Mart agrees with the saying that local supermarkets will not affect his business. He answered with confidence: “Believe me or not, in the future, the oriental markets will be as popular as Tesco.”

 

To buy Chinese groceries

Now you know there are plenty of oriental supermarkets open to cater your demand. If you are planning to cook Chinese cuisine tonight, do visit any of the oriental markets above to get the best ingredients for your dishes. Apart from that, they have various kinds of goods you could not find from Tesco or Sainsburry, selling at a good range of price. Worry of the stocks running out, you have a few spots to get the best choice.

• The KH Oriental Food opens daily from 10am to 7pm.

• Tai Sun Oriental Supermarket opens from 9am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on weekends.

• The Oriental Mart operates from 11am to 9pm daily.