Minerva's drawing studio

Many of the large portrait faces in Ricardo Woo's POP UP show (running Thursday through Saturday, September 15, 16, and 17, 5:00pm to 10:00pm) were painted in acrylic at the studio during LONG POSE sessions.

Please find time to drop by the pop-up show at 181 Mott Street, just around the corner from Kenmare Street

CELEBRATE Minerva’s 84th birthday!
FREE all-day-long drawing marathon and
afternoon performances
Saturday, September 24. 2022
91 Canal Street, 4th floor, NYC 10002
DONATIONS WELCOME

9:30am – 12:30pm SHORT POSES
1-minute to 20-minutes, Marc Lamantia monitors

1:00pm – 2:00pm PERFORMANCES
Melanie Haskins plays Bach on violin
Leticia and Esteban dance
Debussy’s l’Apres midi d’un faune:
Arthur Aviles dances the Faun
Andrew Bolotowsky plays flute
Emily Ma and Sylvie Tereschuk are Wood Nymphs
Fred Hatt paints Arthur Aviles as a faun
Brucius will LIVESTREAM on Instagram
SEE instructions below.

2:30pm – 5:30pm LONGER POSES
5-minutes to 40-minutes, Marc Lamantia monitors

6:00pm – 9:00pm LONG POSE
One pose, Scott May teaches

INSTAGRAM LIVESTREAM performances
Saturday, September 24, at 1:00pm

Instagram@minervasdrawingstudio

To watch LIVESTREAM celebrating Minerva's 84th birthday, you must follow Minerva's Drawing Studio on Instagram .

The stream schedule is 1:00 to 2:00.It can be viewed from a desktop computer as well as on your cell phone.
Just log in to instagram, follow to watch performances by Melanie Haskins,Leticia and Esteban, Arthur Aviles, Andrew Bolotowsky, Emily Ma, Sylvie Tereschuk.

Click the icon which will say "Live" to view.
Thanks to Brucius for streaming the event


Photo of
Minerva's Drawing Studio


DRAWINGS by MINERVA DURHAM
from 1973, 1984, 1986, and 2022
On view through November.
Visit with Minerva and see her drawings
any TUESDAY or FRIDAY, 4pm to 6pm, between drawing sessions.

The Minerva Foundation for Figure Drawing is funded in part with a grant from

Join us LABOR DAY WEEKEND
September 2, 3, 4, 5, 2022
Friday, 9:30am LONG POSE, Joe Essig monitors
Friday, 1:00pm SKETCH, Minerva teaches
Friday, 6:00pm SKETCH. Eleni Papageorge monitors
Saturday, 9:30am SKETCH, Minerva teaches
Saturday, 1:00 pm SKETCH, Marc Lamantia monitors, Leticia and Esteban in DOUBLES
Saturday, 6:00pm LONG POSE, Scott Moy teaches
Sunday, 10:00am SKETCH, Minerva teaches
Sunday, 1:30pm SKETCH and 60-minute pose, Minerva teaches
Monday, 9:30am LONG POSE, Joe Essig monitors
Monday,1:00pm NICOLAIDES, Chuck Connelly teaches

SAVE THE DATE
Saturday, September 24,
Minerva’s 84th birthday
ALL DAY DRAWING MARATHON CELEBRATION
9:30am to 9pm FREE, donations accepted
MUSICAL BREAK a little after NOON
Melanie Haskins plays violin, then
Arthur Avilrs dances as Andrew Bolotowsky plays Debussy’s l’Apres midi d’un feune on flute

MINERVA SIGNED A 5-YEAR LEASE for
91 Canal Street, 4th floor, at 3% .
God was willing.

Kathi Kirkpatrick drew her own hands
in January of this year, a few months before she died.
RIP, Kathi, we miss you. We think of you often.

The studio is open every day during the holiday weekend.
Regular sessions meet Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

JOIN US MONDAY TO CELEBRATE
the 4th of July, 2022
INSIDE ONLY at
91 Canal St., 4th floor
New York, NY 10002

FREE CONCERT
Andrew Bolotowsky, flute; Mary Hurlbut, soprano
12:30pm

DRAW COSTUMED MODELS
Morning session: 10:00am to NOON and
Afternoon session: 1:30pm to 5:00pm

RSVP: [email protected]
or text Minerva :917-375-6086

Masks optional, drop-ins allowed


TO SUPPORT the STUDIO
Buy a class card at a discounted rate.
Mail a check made out to "Spring Studio" to:
Minerva Durham
86 Kenmare #25
New York, NY 10012.
Your card will be waiting for you in the monitors' box at the studio.
DISCOUNTED RATES:
Five sessions for $70;
Ten sessions for $130;
Twenty-five sessions for $300;
Fifty sessions for $500.
Or make a TAX-FREE DONATION
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to:

The New York Foundation for the Arts
20 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
The check must be made out to NYFA and must indicate at the bottom that it is a donation for
The Minerva Foundation for Figure Drawing Inc.

Or DONATE from our website:
springstudiosoho.com

Funded in part by The New York State Council on the Arts

OPEN MONDAY JUNE 20th for both sessions:
9:30am LONG POSE
1:00pm NICOLAIDES

SAVE the Date:
Monday, the 4th of July
NDOORS only
Costumed models: 10am to noon and 1:30pm to 5pm
FREE Concert at 12:30pm
Mary Hurlbut and Andrew Bolotowsky

TO SUPPORT the STUDIO
Buy a class card at a discounted rate.
Mail a check made out to "Spring Studio" to:
Minerva Durham
86 Kenmare #25
New York, NY 10012.
Your card will be waiting for you in the monitors' box at the studio.
DISCOUNTED RATES:
Five sessions for $70;
Ten sessions for $130;
Twenty-five sessions for $300;
Fifty sessions for $500.

Or make a TAX-FREE DONATION
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to:
The New York Foundation for the Arts
20 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
The check must be made out to NYFA and must indicate at the
bottom that it is a donation for
The Minerva Foundation
for Figure
Drawing Inc.

Or DONATE from our website:

springstudiosoho.com

TO RESPOND:
Minerva Durham
917-375-6086
[email protected]

Supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts

Life Drawing in New York City at Spring Studio-Figure Drawing Classes-Sketch Sessions Soho art studio offers figure (life) drawing seven days a week, year-round, for beginners and professionals. Instruction available. Excellent models. Costume, portrait, anatomy.

As some of you may be aware, the upzoning of Soho/Noho is now a fait accompli, but there is a chance to stop Margaret Chin's last swipe at people that opposed her in this matter.

Artists who invested massive amounts of sweat equity over the years will be penalized, and this means children of the original founding artists as well as artists who never got city certification will face crippling fines to stay in their homes or impossible financial hurdles if they are forced to sell. Only big money interests will have the capital to deal with this. It will further the land grab in Chinatown as well as developers seek bargain properties in the bordering neighborhoods. This puts the studio on Canal St in the crosshairs !

From Shawn Sweeney of Soho Alliance:

Breaking News

We have some important news that requires your immediate attention and response.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS.

We learned that a window of opportunity exists for Eric Adams to veto Chin's punitive legislation (2443A) that seeks to penalize non-artist residents with minimum civil penalties of $15,000 – and $25,000 for each additional citation, plus fines of $12,000 per year until the violation is cured.

While we believe that Adams is in favor of the upzoning and will not veto the overall plan, we do believe that a chance remains that he might veto Chin's 2443A. He has until Friday, January 14, to do so.

Therefore, we ask that you send a version of the following email to Adams' cabinet members as soon as possible. Personalizing the email is ideal but not necessary. What is most important is that they hear from us. The email addresses for his staff are below the sample letter.




SAMPLE LETTER to email.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Veto Intro 2443A

To the staff of Mayor Eric Adams:

I am a resident of the SoHo/NoHo neighborhood and am writing to ask Mayor Adams to veto Intro 2443A-2021.

This legislation was introduced by former Council member Margaret Chin just weeks before leaving office and is opposed by the current Council member representing the neighborhood, Christopher Marte. Mayor DeBlasio did not sign the legislation, giving Mayor Adams an opportunity to veto it.

Intro 2443A unfairly penalizes families and individuals who live in loft classified as Joint Live Work Quarters for Artists (JLWQA) under an obsolete zoning provision adopted more than fifty years ago and never enforced.

The bill would impose draconian penalties of up to $25,000 per violation (more than any other DOB fine, including for highly dangerous activities like operating a crane without a license) on non-certified artists for doing nothing more than living in their safe and well maintained homes.

The accumulation of these penalties and violations, which could easily amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars, could force more than 1,600 families to vacate their homes and decimate the values of their nest egg.

The law is extremely cruel in that, upon a certified artist's death, their widow/widower and children will immediately be exposed to massive fines.

Moreover, there are no beneficiaries or public interest to this ill-conceived legislation, which was rushed through the Council at the end of the term with no discussion and no community input or debate as to the serious consequences for thousands of New Yorkers like me.

Mayor Adams should veto Intro 2443A.

Thank you.
Name
Address

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below are the members of Adams' advisors that should be mailed.

Eric Ulrich, Senior Advisor ([email protected])
Fred Kreizman, Community Affairs Unit ([email protected])
Dawn Miller, First Deputy Chief of Staff ([email protected])
Menashe Shapiro, Deputy Chief of Staff ([email protected])
Tiffany Raspberry, Senior Advisor for External Affairs ([email protected])
Stefan Ringel, Senior Advisor ([email protected])
Ryan Lynch, Deputy Chief of Staff at City Hall ([email protected])
Madeline Labadie, Deputy Chief of Staff ([email protected])

And last but not least, your support of the studio is greatly appreciated, and we hope to see you drawing soon!
TO SUPPORT the STUDIO
Buy a class card at a discounted rate.
Mail a check made out to "Spring Studio" to:
Minerva Durham
86 Kenmare #25
New York, NY 10012.
Your card will be waiting for you in the monitors' box at the studio.
DISCOUNTED RATES:
Five sessions for $70;
Ten sessions for $130;
Twenty-five sessions for $300;
Fifty sessions for $500.

Or make a TAX-FREE DONATION
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to:
The New York Foundation for the Arts
20 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
The check must be made out to NYFA and must indicate at the
bottom that it is a donation for
The Minerva Foundation
for Figure
Drawing Inc.

Or DONATE from our website:

springstudiosoho.com


TO RESPOND:
Minerva Durham
917-375-6086
[email protected]

Life Drawing in New York City at Spring Studio-Figure Drawing Classes-Sketch Sessions Soho art studio offers figure (life) drawing seven days a week, year-round, for beginners and professionals. Instruction available. Excellent models. Costume, portrait, anatomy.

Minerva is having computer issues and will not be able to get emails for awhile. If you need to get in touch with her to reserve space in a class or for any other reason, please call her at

Minerva Durham
917-375-6086

Don't forget the end of the year is approaching and your support is greatly appreciated!
Happy Drawing!

TO SUPPORT the STUDIO
Buy a class card at a discounted rate.
Mail a check made out to "Spring Studio" to:
Minerva Durham
86 Kenmare #25
New York, NY 10012.
Your card will be waiting for you in the monitors' box at the studio.
DISCOUNTED RATES: Five sessions for $70;
Ten sessions for $130; Twenty-five sessions for $300;
and fifty sessions for $500.

Or make a TAX-FREE DONATION
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to:
The New York Foundation for the Arts
20 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
The check must be made out to NYFA and must indicate at the
bottom that it is a donation for The Minerva Foundation
for Figure Drawing Inc.

Or DONATE from our website:

springstudiosoho.com

Minerva drawing bird anatomy upside-down

TO RESPOND:
Minerva Durham
917-375-6086
[email protected]

Please remember the studio today this "Giving Tuesday"

TO SUPPORT the STUDIO
Buy a class card at a discounted rate.
Mail a check made out to "Spring Studio" to:
Minerva Durham
86 Kenmare #25
New York, NY 10012.
Your card will be waiting for you in the monitors' box at the studio.
DISCOUNTED RATES: Five sessions for $70;
Ten sessions for $130; Twenty-five sessions for $300;
and fifty sessions for $500.

Or make a TAX-FREE DONATION
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to:
The New York Foundation for the Arts
20 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
The check must be made out to NYFA and must indicate at the
bottom that it is a donation for The Minerva Foundation
for Figure Drawing Inc.

Or DONATE from our website:

springstudiosoho.com

Minerva drawing bird anatomy upside-down

TO RESPOND:
Minerva Durham
917-375-6086
[email protected]

Life Drawing in New York City at Spring Studio-Figure Drawing Classes-Sketch Sessions Soho art studio offers figure (life) drawing seven days a week, year-round, for beginners and professionals. Instruction available. Excellent models. Costume, portrait, anatomy.

Henry Oelkers, everyone's favorite costume model, costumer par excellence, musician and wit. died this weekend after a three-month-long fight against an aggressive cancer. Stunned artists are flooding instagram with drawings and paintings of Henry.

Below I reprint an essay inspired by his poses; below that is a photo from the NY Times showing Henry as Santa Clause during our Make Music Winter performance in Petrosino Square in 2017; and, lastly, Henry as Uncle San during one of our annual Fourth of July costume-drawing and concert events.

To Respond:
Minerva Durham
[email protected]
917-375-6086

Henry Oelkers, Rodin, Goya, Hokusai and Me in the Cold in the Park
Tell me how -- on a cold, sunless morning in a godforsaken, somewhat neglected, downtown park corridor frequented by godforsaken, addicted, homeless, dispossessed creatures -- I can have drawn drawings that are better than any drawings I have drawn in my whole life.

I've drawn Henry Oelkers many times. He has almost always projected an essence that could be grasped in a second, processed as quickly, and then miraculously fit onto a page with exuberance and without too conscious a struggle. But I had never felt like this before, as though I were gliding along an obstacle course, both difficult and easy at the same time, while the cold robbed my hands of all the facility I had got from practicing for sixty years. I kept on going, resigned to the struggle, but willfully and quietly maintaining a steady rebellion against the elements.

"Very Cold (Henry from the back)" Minerva Durham, Charcoal pencil with smudges 9" x 12"

"Henry Posing With Plastic Recorder" Minerva Durham, Charcoal pencil with
smudges 12" x 9" Collection: William Skillman

Since we started drawing clothed models outside in the park, I have been thinking a lot about Auguste Rodin's drawings , the ones he did late in life when he was famous from his sculptures. He could afford to hire a few models at a time, mostly dancers, asking them to move around, then to stop on command. He allowed himself a spontaneous freedom more extreme than the sort of freedom found in his early drawings. He unskilled himself. He drew without plan, allowing the sense of touch to guide his pencil, Years of working with clay to construct human forms had left him embedded with haptic memories ready to be transformed. He didn't look at his page when he drew.He scribbled. He chose to draw on smallish pieces of paper, later using watercolors to wash over the lines, sometimes unifying, sometimes confusing the image. Did he shock himself when he first thought to cut out one of the figures and to reorient it on a clean sheet of paper, and then to cut out more figures and interlock them?

For me, Rodin, Goya and Hokusai form a sacred Triinity of aged artists whose drawings reached their highest level in the last years of their lives. Francisco Goya, God the Father, all powerful in his craft, drew a set of fifty or more scenes, small and unassuming masterpieces in ink, of persons that he observed on the street and of satires of human weakness, intense imagined images: "They argue even as they fall" could be a comment on the current state of the American Empire.

Francisco Goya, "They argue even as they fall"

I see Auguste Rodin as God the Son, an artist bound to the earth who liberated us, giving permission to all artists to draw without constraints.

I complete the Trinity with Katsushika Hokusai, God the Holy Spirit, announcing that lines and dots will jump to life, not miraculously, but as the result of our being "mad about drawing."

"From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs. but all I have done before the the age of seventy is not worth bothering with. At seventy five I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am eighty you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred I shall be a marvelous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokosai, but today I sign my self 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing." -- Hokusai

THE MORAL:
The best drawing you will ever do is the one you are going to draw tomorrow.

Goodbye, Henry. We will remember you.

Henry in the basement studio at 64 Spring Street, years ago

TO SUPPORT the STUDIO
Buy a class card at a discounted rate.
Mail a check made out to "Spring Studio" to:
Minerva Durham
86 Kenmare #25
New York, NY 10012.
Your card will be waiting for you in the monitors' box at the studio.
DISCOUNTED RATES: Five sessions for $70;
Ten sessions for $130; Twenty-five sessions for $300;
and fifty sessions for $500.

Or make a TAX-FREE DONATION
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to:
The New York Foundation for the Arts
20 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
The check must be made out to NYFA and must indicate at the
bottom that it is a donation for The Minerva Foundation
for Figure Drawing Inc.

Or DONATE from our website: springstudiosoho.com

OPEN for all sessions Columbus Day weekend, October 9, 10, 11.

SCHEDULE
Minerva's Drawing Studio a/k/a Spring Studio
4th floor, 91 Canal St., 10002
All artists are ssked to wear masks.
All models are N**E.
LIMIT: 16 artists, model and monitor, 18 total.
No food in the drawing area, Drinks only.
Everyone welcome, but please RSVP.

DISCOUNTED RATES:
Walk in $20; Five sessions for $70;
Ten sessions for $130; Twenty-five sessions for $300;
and fifty sessions for $500. Cash or check.

JOIN US indoors ALL DAY Saturdays
with n**e model. FEE: card punch or $20.
RSVP for morning, afternoon and/or evening session
MORNING: 9:30 am to 12:30 pm, Minerva teaches
AFTERNOON: 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm SHORT POSES
EVENING: 6:00 to 9:00 LONG POSE
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

JOIN US indoors every Sunday morning
and afternoon for N**e Sketch.
MORNING:10:00 am to 1:00 pm,
Minerva teaches SKETCH
AFTERNOON: 1:30 to 4:30 pm.
Minerva teaches q uick poses followed by 60-minute pose.
FEE: card punch or $20.
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

JOIN US indoors every Monday morning
N**E Long pose. FEE: card punch or $20.
9:30 am to 12:30 pm.
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

JOIN US indoors every Monday afternoon for Nicolaides
Class with n**e model. FEE: card punch or $20.
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
Kate Norberg & Chuck Connolly teach "The Natural Way to Draw"
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

JOIN US indoors every Tuesday afternoon and evening
Minerva teaches LIMIT: 18: 16 artists, model and teacher.
FEE: card punch or $20.
AFTERNOON: 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, SKETCH
EVENING: 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, SKETCH
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

JOIN US indoors every Wednesday evening
with n**e model. FEE: card punch or $20.
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, SHORT POSES
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

JOIN US indoors every Thursday afternoon
LONG POSE with n**e model. FEE: card punch or $20.
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm,
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

JOIN US indoors every Friday morning
N**E Long pose. FEE: card punch or $20.
9:30 am to 12:30 pm.
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

JOIN US indoors every Friday afternoon
N**e Sketch. FEE: card punch or $20.
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Minerva teaches
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

JOIN US indoors every Friday evening
N**e Sketch. FEE: card punch or $20.
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.
RSVP: Minerva Durham
917-375-6086, text or call
[email protected]

OPEN Labor Day and Labor Day Weekend for all sessions.

Friday, September 3, Saturday, September 4, Sunday, September 5, Monday, September 6
At 5pm this Sunday, after the regular sessions, we are planning a special Sunday night series: IN SEARCH OF A POSE FOR LEDA AND THE SWAN led by Mark Fasciano. Short poses to warm up, then long poses (30 mins).. Text Minerva if you would like to attend: 917-375-6086

Thanks To Recent Donors: Carl Blandford, Sara Bloom, Ron Jones, Miya Ramsey, Meryl Rosner, Stan and Nancy Sheran, Beverly Tall, Alice Topalian, Takako Yoneyama, Marcus Robinson (OK. who did I miss?)

Literary offering: I have not had sufficient peace of mind to continue to write my memoirs, but I found a poem that my father wrote almost 100 years ago for Ireland, "fervid child among the nations." It has little relevance to the world that we live in today, but I have recently been thinking a lot about my late father who bragged about his father's Norman English ancestors, the Quertons (Whartons), as he grew old, seeming to forget about his mother's Tipperary origins. I share his fervid, youthful sentiments with you here.
NOTES:
Line 4: Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1769-1822) Anglo-Irish torturer, repressor of liberty, hated and maligned statesman
Line 7: Robert Emmet (1778-1803) Irish nationalist orator and hero, hung and beheaded for treason. See his "Speech from the dock"
Line 9: Nestor w=Wise, old,warrior king in Homer's Iliad
Line 13: "be wroth" Archaic for "be angry"

FOR ERIN

I know the Dublin cobbles running gore
of boys who did not learn to kneel and pray
in Irish hillside catacombs before
they learned to dread and damn a Castlereagh
with shaking lips. And though this flesh can hide
on foreign soils, it is chained to the soul
that fell grief-stunned at Emmet's fun'ral toll --
I have your heart, O Tipperary-eyed!

You bred no Nestor, fervid child among
the nations -- flame-and-music heart that knew
the joy and woe a Homer has not sung --
if I, an ocean parted, heard and grew
this bitter, what of you?-- be wroth!--too late
for love and peace -- go learn the strength of hate.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Fo understand Emmet's significance, watch:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=robert+emmet+speech&&view=detail&mid=C192A2303D4EED801AA1C192A2303D4EED801AA1&&FORM=VRDGAR&ru=%2Fvideos%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Drobert%2Bemmet%2Bspeech%26qpvt%3Drobert%2Bemmet%2Bspeech%26FORM%3DVDRE

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

TO SUPPORT the STUDIO
Buy a class card at a discounted rate.
Mail a check made out to "Spring Studio" to:
Minerva Durham
86 Kenmare #25
New York, NY 10012.
Your card will be waiting for you in the monitors' box at the studio.
DISCOUNTED RATES: Five sessions for $70; Ten sessions for $130;
Twenty-five sessions for $300; and fifty sessions for $500.

Or make a TAX-FREE DONATION
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to:
The New York Foundation for the Arts
20 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
The check must be made out to NYFA and must indicate at the bottom that it is a donation for
The Minerva Foundation for Figure Drawing Inc.

Love,
Minerva
To RESPOND:
917-375-6086
[email protected]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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