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From Good Girl to Art Rebel – One Nude Drawing at a Time with Michelle Dovey | 026
Manage episode 502475384 series 3617107
She left a penis off her sketch – and it cracked open a decades-long pattern of shame she didn’t even know she was carrying.
When Michelle Dovey sat down to draw a statue of Apollo in Florence, she didn’t mean to leave something out. But there it was – a blank spot where the genitals should’ve been. This accidental omission turned into a revelation: her artistic gaze had been unconsciously edited by years of shame, modesty, and good girl conditioning. So what did she do? She started drawing cocks. A hundred of them.
The result is her wildly unfiltered, beautifully rebellious Naked Man Project – and in this episode, Michelle talks about art, body image, unshaming the male form, and what happens when you start seeing people (and yourself) through curious, compassionate eyes. It’s funny, raw, and full of unexpected tenderness. Just like her drawings.
Quote:
“I didn’t realize my gaze was edited – until that blank space showed me what I’d been too afraid to see.”
Guest Links:
Instagram: @michelledoveyartist
Facebook: michelle.dovey.10
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michelle-dovey-07a630378
Website: https://liberate.michelledovey.com
Chapters
1. The sketch that launched 100 cocks (00:00:00)
2. Uncovering shame through a blank spot on the page (00:03:10)
3. Drawing David’s penis in public (yes, really) (00:03:59)
4. Why women artists still edit out genitals (00:05:14)
5. “I didn’t know my gaze was edited” (00:06:36)
6. Good girl gone rebel – how the project began (00:08:34)
7. Drawing nude men – what it’s really like (00:10:24)
8. Intimacy, safety, and being fully seen (00:11:51)
9. Bellies, body hair, and sketching without apology (00:13:32)
10. Seeing sovereignty through someone else’s eyes (00:15:51)
11. From tantra workshops to viral Facebook posts (00:19:56)
12. Shared shame – how it’s not just women (00:21:46)
13. The 10X moment – why she committed to finishing in a year (00:23:41)
14. The cock project goes public (including curious neighbors) (00:24:42)
15. Curiosity over fear – how she keeps moving forward (00:28:26)
16. Stepping into the unknown, one drawing at a time (00:30:49)
17. Returning to her love of figure painting after years away (00:31:46)
18. Social media, contracts, and growing a bolder business (00:37:21)
19. Trusting the next “yes” – and what’s coming next (00:42:15)
20. How to follow her work (and maybe even pose…) (00:44:07)
28 episodes
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