LIFE DRAWING AT STONE STUDIO
MERDE founder Molly Apple attended Stone Studio’s Life Drawing session in DTLA, where she caught up with hosts Jack Juliar and John T.D. Murphy to discuss the catalyst that shaped their operation. Provocative yet serious, their finely curated events have bloomed into a community of creatives that gathers monthly to draw the nude male figure.
MOLLY: John, When did you start hosting Figure Drawing sessions?
JOHN: The first one was at a friend’s house.
JACK: Then you hosted at that crazy house, with bottle service!
JOHN: It was intimate in the home, but it’s not a ton of people or a ton of space.
MOLLY: When did you two meet and embark on Stone Studio’s Life Drawing sessions?
JACK: I met John when I attended one of his home drawing sessions. John was doing it for fun and for free, only asking for donations at one’s leisure.
JOHN: I wasn’t really pushing it…
JACK: Which is why, I’m a bitch, and I was like John you could monetize off of this… I pushed him to think about the goal and value of what he’s doing for his friends as a drawing instructor for donations sake.
JOHN: Jack and my boyfriend basically had a come to Jesus — I was going in the red for each event, buying really nice bottles out of pocket just because I loved doing it. Jack had to pull me kicking and screaming a little bit because I had this trouble valuing the experience and the work. Ultimately, They helped me realize I was providing a service and I needed to get paid for this service.
NORMALIZE COMPENSATION.
MOLLY: What was this come to Jesus for you Jack?
JACK: I saw that John had already built this network and a community through the sessions, and I thought that people outside of this community would want to be a part of it. So I offered up my space, Stone Studio, and we started trial and error style, testing the sessions at night, and it during the day, week day versus weekend.
We also researched what else was offered in Los Angeles. They host similar sessions at Tom of Finland or the Design Institute - but they either had supplies, but there's no instructor, or it wasn't fully nude.
JOHN: We wanted a whole experience, with a little free bar (sponsored drinks by Vybes) , and chocolate mushrooms (by Forest Floor).
MOLLY: What drove you to host these events in the first place? Do you have a certain guest in mind?
JOHN: When I started, it was really because my own work is focused in photo realism where I draw from photographs. I wanted to push beyond this 2d to 2d process, into the 3d to 2d realm, which for me, is much more difficult. My figure drawings aren't nearly as good as my paintings, so I wanted to practice. So once, when I was at a gathering at a friend’s home, the host asked his boyfriend John if he would be comfortable getting naked for us. He gave everyone drawing paper and we drew him. It was so fun, and it just became a bigger and bigger thing. But when we started charging, it was not only about the experience, because people became better. Then, the people who just wanted to get drunk and have fun and see someone naked were separated from the people who wanted to actually draw and pay for the experience. We got a lot more people that are serious — not necessarily that are better artists, because there's a lot of beginners who attend, but people who take the sessions seriously.
JACK: I felt like we could charge $60 for the person who’s looking to have this kind of value. There are people from the start who were drawing stick figures, maybe thinking to themselves ‘this is kind of funny,’ who then sat it in and weren’t able to take it seriously. It kind of weeded them out, in the sense that the community that we have now is very different from where we started. I'm grateful it's with John, who works in curation, and works with Elton John, there’s just so much talent in his little brain and a little heart.
I’m at this point where I'm able to facilitate with my space, with other creatives, and that's what I do with Stone [Studio]. I work with vintage dealers, artists and people who have creative businesses — like Diego, who helps with the production of the drawing sessions, and is a really talented photographer. Hopefully he is finding value in helping and understanding the knowledge to be gained in how to operate a studio as well as the etiquette around just how things work — “100%” says Diego across the room.
MOLLY: It’s a really cool machine that you’ve facilitated people to be apart of.
JACK: It’s really amazing that John has remained a sort of a staple. That was something I always wanted to do, was have community. This felt very easy in that way because [nudity] can almost be polarizing - It's like, we're ready to learn, nudity. In America, the way we view sex and censorship, these sessions exist within, but also outside of that. It feels really nice that there’s rapport around the sessions now, it’s really exciting.
MOLLY: Yes, I love that I've met like a few friends from the sessions, and we get together after class or outside of the sessions and catch up. It’s been really nice because moving to LA, it’s hard to hard to meet people in an organic setting.
JACK: Oh, this is the whole point. You have talented people, people who are wanting to be open and have these experiences, especially post COVID isolation. We were dehumanized in a way, because we are such social creatures, we didn't have an opportunity to have things like this. I think coming back into society, having a level of foundation or grounding within art or something community based, is such a great starting point.
JOHN: That’s why I find the little intermissions between poses, where we have everyone bring their drawing to the center and discuss with their neighbors really, really important. At first, people didn’t want to compare their drawings, but when you see them all out there, it's like, yeah, mine looks great. It's all about how different they are, and getting tips and tricks.
JACK: I've told John before, maybe we don't have as many poses, and have more of those intermissions and he’s like ‘mmmmm.????’ I love that in between, but I am also someone who really likes structure. I believe in doing something that you don't want to do, because it’s those moments that will push you. When you're doing a job, or writing something to get paid that you don’t necessarily want to do - pushing yourself to do it is where your passion lies. And with the mushrooms, it does allow you to get into that flow. It goes deeper. You're not being forced to do something, but you’re being sort of pushed by the timed aspect of the posing sessions where you need to position yourself and dedicate that time. You can’t just go on your phone to kill time. You’re flexing a different muscle, and it just feels nice. But that's me romanticizing everything, which is kind of like what I do.
ROMANTICIZE YOUR LIFE.
My mom thinks it’s crazy that in Layman’s terms, I make a living filling a room with 20 to 40 people and everyone sits around and stares at a naked guy. Like, that's my life. That's bizarre. We only do it once a month too. It’s funny in a way that I am very grateful for. I didn't know John very well, or really at all before this. We kind of ran in the same circles, and social media but not really.
John: Social media has really expanded our audience as well, I get so many DM responses to my stories about the sessions, asking if everyone drawing is naked too *laughs (we are not.)
The guests of Stone Studio’s sessions may not be nude while they draw, but the intimate experience of a nude model just might get you out of your comfort zone. Once a month, the community sits together in a clear headed space where one can detach from regular commitments and societal expectations.
Being social in a post-modern, materialist society means exposing yourself to scrutiny. Jack and John have built a space in their life drawing sessions that transcends that barrier, welcoming all skill levels to gather and connect far beyond artistic talent or clout. This is a primal offering—a shared, timed experience in translating the human figure from eye to hand to paper.
