Altered Esthetics is a gallery in Northeast Minneapolis that I've mentioned before. They're a non-profit art organization that gives many artists their first opportunity to show work in a gallery (myself included). They have monthly art openings, artist talks, workshops, mentor programs for new artists, and more.
One of their new events this year is Suit Up Ae. Every third Wednesday of the month 6:30 - 8:30pm Ae provides an evening of figure drawing. Volunteers dress up in costumes and anyone is free to come and draw for two hours. There is a suggested donation of $3, which is very reasonable. If you have a student who wants to further their drawing skills this is a fun and low key opportunity to do so.
There's just something special about making art in the company of other artistically inclined souls. And there's no comparison to drawing from real life--you can obsess over the details from a photograph ad infinitum, but a model can only hold a pose so long. Life drawing teaches you to focus on the important details and not worry about the little things so much. It can be challenging but it's a lot of fun.
