By Michele Walsky | Assistant Editor
Would you bare it all for the sake of art? Terri Mullen is one of several portrait models the art department employs and she has been sitting for MWCC students for nearly a decade. As an artist herself, she says it is a way to stay in the art scene.
“I get an education every time I’m in a class,” she said. “I get inspired to work on projects I’ve abandoned.”
But that is not what draws her in.
“I went into modeling to liberate myself,” Mullen said. “The body is art as a form. It’s something beautiful, not something to be exploited.”
Dealing with body issues and a personal crisis, Mullen admitted she got into modeling by accident. After two years at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she returned to Massachusetts and posted flyers for odd jobs around Concord to help pay the rent. She was contacted by a sculptor finishing her master’s who asked Mullen if she had ever modeled. Mullen had not, but the woman sounded legit and the pay was good, so she gave it a try. From there, the artist introduced Mullen to other art groups. Her professional reputation led to other modeling gigs for solo female sculptors, which led to the deCordova Museum in Lincoln. read more
