'Nude International': a cold night's hot spot

By Howard M. Snyder Herald-Leader Social Columnist

Normally, January is a month for dressing warmly. Visions of exposed skin weren’t exactly dancing in my head. But on Jan. 11, the hottest ticket in town was for the Lexington Art League’s annual cocktail benefit to kick off its Nude International art exhibition at the Loudoun House.

It seemed as if half of Lexington was there, with not a parking space to be had. I should have just parked downtown and taken a bus.

The Loudoun House, a huge castlelike Victorian house, was a mob scene. Artists, city officials, politicians, lawyers, doctors, a few journalists and the usual party people paid dearly to sip champagne and nibble on little cocktail sausages, crudités and assorted hors d’oeuvres and view the top nude photographs, drawings and paintings in this year’s competition. And, yes, there were live nudes (upstairs and to the right).

Party-goers mixed, mingled and chatted as they checked out the 45 artworks selected from 775 works submitted from around the world. The juror, New York art gallery director Jay Gorney, said of the art work: “Some good, quite good.” He took me into the Zygmunt Gierlach Gallery and pointed out his favorite work, Centaurs, a pen-and-ink by Wendy Currier of Georgetown.

Currier is a retired special education teacher who taught in Lexington, Frankfort and Georgetown. She didn’t start working seriously on her art until after she retired a few years ago: “I just decided I’d enter the competition,” she said.

“Everyone’s so friendly,” Currier said. “They’ve been great introducing me to other artists and patrons. … They (the LAL staff) made me feel like a queen. I’m planning more competitions in the future.”

Lexington lawyer Sarah Charles Wright, a member of the LAL’s advisory board and its past president, said: “It’s always fun, the most interesting winter event to occur in Lexington. … There’s lots of wonderful art and a wonderful party all at the same time.”

State Sen. Ernesto Scorsone,

D-Lexington, along with his partner, John Davis, are collectors of local art and supporters of the Art League. He said of the event: “A lot of great art, energy, and it juices up the art community in Lexington.”

I finally made my way up the stairs and to the right. With a long line waiting to get in, it looked more as if a peep show were in progress. The room was a studio where patrons and party-goers sat at easels trying their hand at drawing — two nude models, a man and a woman, bathed in blue light with patterned shadowing. I peeked at one guy’s work of art as he worked on it: a couple of stick figures. No doubt a submission for next year’s competition.

Reach Howard Snyder at (859) 231-3208 or 1-800-950-6397,

Ext. 3208.