A story receiving less press than the Texas teacher scandal is another in New York of an art Teacher who is currently suspended and may be fired after recommending to some of his advanced students that they take life drawing classes. The image above is from one of the students involved.

PETE PANSE is a talented and popular high school art teacher in Middletown, NY who uses traditional techniques to to train his students. In December 2005 Mr. Panse was suspended from his job for recommending that some of his advanced students consider taking figure drawing courses that included nude figure drawings. Mr. Panse is suspended from his job pending hearings after which he may be permanently fired, ending a 25-year teaching career. In the meantime, his students are sitting in study hall learning nothing and failing to prepare the materials necessary for their receiving scholarships.



ARC ARTicles – The Case of Pete Panse – Brian Yoder – Page 1/1:

Has the entire world gone mad? I did life drawing from my early teens and modeled for life drawing in my mid teens. I don’t see it as a big deal personally. the most difficulty I had with it was my first male model when I was a little uncertain as to wether to draw the bits in or not. I think they were very worthwhile experiences. I certainly never had issue with the nudity and neither did my parents.

I think the problem a lot of people are having with this is not understanding the visual relationship between an artist and their model. This is not a sexual thing! no matter what relationship the artist and model may have outside the studio there is a magic that happens when the model adopts the pose that turns them into a breathing still life. They become the sum of their angles, curves and shadows.

There is a lot of controversy being thrown up from these debates I think it is sad that teachers are being blamed for daring to encourage children’s creativity. maybe is it the fault of artists throughout history for being fascinated by the human body – how dare they?

Tags: Art, art news, Children, controversy, nudes