Bailey Gumienny poses with the piece she modeled for. Modeling was a foreign experience for her, but she loved getting to see herself through someone else’s eyes. Whitney Elfstrom | The Crow’s Nest
By Amy Diaz
In nearly any other circumstance, being naked in front of your boss would be inappropriate, scandalous and weird. But when your boss is the owner of an art studio and needs models for an exhibition, it’s just part of the job.
Carrie Jadus presented the second installment of her “Blue Nudes” series Friday night at Soft Water Studios, 515 22nd St. S.
The event was organized by USF St. Petersburg graduate and assistant gallery manager Bailey Gumienny. She was also one of Jadus’ models.
“It didn’t feel weird. And I knew that she was looking for light, she was looking for composition,” Gumienny said of her first experience modeling for an artist. “And you know, I’m around her a lot. We’re pretty close.”
The series consisted of 23 nude studies, varying in size and shape. The pieces fit and flowed together across one wall of the studio, tied by the same turquoise background, gold frame and peachy-pink skin color. The exhibition told a collective story of the human form, each piece honoring a different body in a different pose.
“She doesn’t really define the faces. She usually omits them or they’re kind of abstracted,” Gumienny said of Jadus’ series. “It’s not really about the expression, it’s about the shape and the movement.”
Each body lies, sits, stands, kneels, crouches, leans or stretches in a different way. Their positions and gestures convey different emotions and motivations even without defined facial expressions. One figure holds her head in what seems to be anguish, frustration and sorrow.
Another kicks her legs up, one crossed over the over, relaxing and soaking up the sun.
The inspiration for the “Blue Nudes” came from a figure drawing session in which Jadus participated. Instead of sketching the figure, Jadus decided to paint during the longer poses to use up leftover oil paint on her pallette. She prepped her panels with bright colors before the class so she could paint the figures on top of them, and found she loved the contrast of the bright blue background and the warm tones of the skin.
“These have been developing for about a year,” Jadus said of the second installment of work presented at the exhibit. “The ‘Blue Nudes’ have kind of evolved over the years. So like the beginning ones were a lot different from these, they were a lot maybe, less developed.”
The first installment of the “Blue Nudes” series was presented in 2016, and became a continuing signature project for Jadus.
“I spent more time on this series because the blue backgrounds became sort of an insignia of mine and something I became really comfortable with using,” she said. “And so over the years, it’s just really evolved.”
Close to 100 artists and art lovers showed up for the event wearing any blue clothing they owned, drinking champagne dyed blue with food coloring, and snacking on Hershey’s kisses in blue wrappers. There were magnets of the “Blue Nudes” for sale and 12 of the 23 art pieces in the series were sold.
The pieces that weren’t sold will remain up at the studio and become part of a group exhibition titled “S I N U O S I T Y: The Human Landscape” opening Oct. 13 during the Second Saturday Art Walk from 5 to 9 p.m.
The show will feature 13 artists, including Gumienny. The art will explore the power of the human form, but will be diverse as far as technique and style with each artist.
The exhibition is free to the public and will end Nov. 1 with a closing ceremony from 6 to 8 p.m.
