In the early seventies I joined Tyler Micoleau’s life drawing group at his gallery in Nevada City and he joined ours up here on The Ridge. Tyler was an inveterate and passionate artist; I don’t think he was ever without a drawing pencil or a paint brush. He drew while watching TV. At first we met at the school in North San Juan (now the community center) in the evening and our models came from the community. I would also model occasionally for Tyler’s group in town to earn a little extra money and also to help pay for the times when I wanted to draw. Before the internet it was just understood that we would meet at such a place on such a night and we would draw the model together. I didn’t even have a phone back then and somehow it worked.

Ours was a movable feast, finding a place to meet was a continual challenge. When the new school was built on Oak Tree Rd. we met there, when the school burned down we met at North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center. When obstacles arose there we met at my house. It was a cramped space but we squeezed in. I moved the furniture, built up the wood stove in the winter. The model would be in front of the stove roasting her backside and shivering in front. We the did the best we could with available light as my modest solar system couldn’t accommodate bright lamps on cloudy or rainy days. It was an intimate endeavor.

The next meeting place was Sharon Lane’s very fine studio and then Extasia, a jewelry manufacturing studio generously provided by my very good friend Stefanie Freydont its founder and designer. The space was large, free; it had heat and light on demand, air conditioning in the summer and a closet to store props between our Saturday sessions, and plenty of parking spaces. We were able to use Extasia even after Stefanie died but then COVID-19 took over our lives and the manager of Extasia didn’t want to expose her crew of workers to increased risks and we had to leave.

We began to meet outside on Kurt’s lawn, inside Jonathan’s studio, outside Laurence’s barn, inside Laurence’s barn, at Daley’s studio and probably a few other places I’m forgetting. We’ve been flexible and creative, we’ve been determined and obdurate and we will not stop drawing the human figure. But now we’re looking for a place again because we can’t stop now.

Jacquie Bellon

When I came to Nevada city in 1994 the group was already in existence with weekly sessions. (Rumor has it that it was started shortly before the gold rush.)

It has been in numerous venues throughout the county with a many different members, managers and models over the years . The longest period that it has not been meeting was probably during the recent Covid pandemic .

Currently it appears as alive as ever and we have some space for new artist participants, as well as new models.

Kurt Niederhaus