Model Behavior

by Sherard Harrington

On the bookshelf I built (it leans dramatically to the left, and threatens to collapse under the collective weight of Flynn, Karr, Handler, Wolff, Foster Wallace, and a few other likable kooks), there is a picture my mother took of my cousin and I at the Guggenheim. I’m standing there, smiling, next to my cousin, who at 6’2 was a track star in high school, who then graduated into modeling, followed by acting, to include several actual acting gigs, notably for me as an extra in Law & Order. He’s the New York to my Boston (literally). The three piece suit to my flip flops and ripped jeans. Quite frankly, compared to him, I am the black sheep.

And nothing was more liberating than that realization in my conservative family. I had a free pass to mess up because even doing my best I would still be standing in his shadow (also literally, the tall bastard). With all eyes on him, I was free to develop my own thing.

And of course my own thing got me nowhere, as these stories go, but I’ve had fun carving out my own path and discovering what works for me and what doesn’t. For example, I’m absolutely loving my studio professor and her take on teaching. This week’s project is to take an 11x17 bristol board and turn it into a veritable marble maze—we have to get a marble to start at one end of the paper and stop on the other, while moving at two different speeds, and explore encasement/exposure. It’s all about considering volume and form and space in a different light. I’ve got to come up with two more models for Monday, but here’s my first one so far.

Eh, eh? What do you think? I think I might get lampooned for it being too symmetrical, but...who cares? I made it, and I think it’s awesome.

Ok, I care, and will work against that for the next model. Twist my arm why don’t you.

But later on today, I’m going to go to my first cold read, for—get this—a Law & Order spoof. They’re looking for someone to play Ice-T. Should be fun! I always pictured myself as a late in life actor, because I essentially want to be Betty White (who doesn’t? It’s a thing), but wouldn’t it be cool if I became an on again off again actor like Kristen Schaal before Bob’s Burgers, or Clea DuVall before Argo? (We can argue semantics, but my point here is that I loved them both in low budget items before they became starlight capturers.)

But mostly I think it’d be fun just to have the experience of trying out for something art related that I know isn’t going to become mainstream. I guess I’m just black sheeping it.