bruningm@lopers.unk.edu
The UNK Art and Design Department is about to get steamy. For the past couple of weeks, the department has been offering classes to teach nude painting. The class is open to all students at the university.
Georgia O’Keefe, a volunteer art lecturer at UNK, said the course has already garnered lots of attention from students and faculty.
“Almost 80% of UNK students have switched to being an art major,” O’Keefe said. “There’s also some faculty who have quit their positions, so they could pursue their dreams as models.”
Brad Broman, a former business major, was asked why he wants to take the class.
“Well, I um, uh just wanted to learn more about anatomy ya’ know?” Broman said. “Plus, other schools offer it. They’re just more well-rounded than us I guess.”
Originally, the UNK Art and Design Department planned to hire celebrities as models for the class. Some of the potential candidates included Donald Trump, Will Ferrell and Seth Rogan.
These were the most popular votes in the questionnaire that UNK students completed when the class was announced.
Yet, UNK realized their budget was too low to afford the popular celebrities, so they had to come up with an alternative source of models.
Luckily, some members of the UNK Dining team offered to model.
Sarah CahnCook, a UNK Dining worker, explained why the position was attractive to her.
“A young, beautiful thing like me can’t serve sloppy joes all day long for students,” CahnCook said. “I think it’s time I serve looks instead.”
Although the class is a hot topic for students, parents are not happy about the promiscuous painting.
“When my son said he was taking a painting class, I was expecting bowls of fruit or landscapes — not something that made his grandmother faint,” Karen BeHatin’ said. “Now Meemaw cut ties with our entire family because of this obscenity.”
Despite contrasting views about the class, students have been successful with their paintings. Playboy even offered to buy select students’ paintings for $1 million each and have them published in their magazine.
Joe Mamha was one of the lucky students chosen to have his passion project included in the magazine deal.
“It’s really easy to create art when the models are beautiful inside and out,” Mamha said.
