About this Event
Hi, I'm Lins & I'm super-excited to tell you about my innovative art class just for adult women of all shapes/sizes/ages etc, to celebrate art, our lives, bodies & the warm community of sisterhood! LASS launched in Exeter in December 2025 & has been a huge success so far, gaining traction & becoming 'a thing' - it's now in 5 LOCATIONS....
LASS Salons happen once a month, in 5x different locations, between 7:20-9pm (the only exception is the Chagford 'Little LASS' Salon, which takes place weekly on Wednesdays and is held in a much smaller venue, so can only take 13-15 attendees max.)
MONDAY eves: EXETER Community Centre. Ongoing now
TUESDAY eves: ST. IVES. Starting in June 2026. Venue details to follow
WEDNESDAY eves: CHAGFORD. Begins 1/4/26. Email me for venue details
THURSDAY eves: ROCK. Begins 21/5/26. St Minver Community Hub, Rock
FRIDAY eves: TOTNES. Begins 1/5/26. Birdwood House, Totnes High Street
(NB: You can now buy tickets for Exeter, Chagford,Totnes & Rock LASS Salon Sessions here. For address details for Chagford LASS, please email me: [email protected])
I've been an art/life model since July 2021 at over 30x different art classes/venues (including in Florence, London, Bath and St. Ives in Cornwall) and for over 600 artists - you can read all about my gorgeous adventures in art further down the page if you'd like to (& also see if you'd like to have a go at being a model too!) However, firstly here's the details of LASS....
THE STRUCTURE OF LASS EVENING CLASSES:
The LASS Sessions will run as follows:
7:20pm - Drinks on Arrival & everyone to get set-up
7:30pm-8:45pm - Art drawing/painting of our female model begins with a brief 5 min break half-way through with 2 x book extract readings (poses are 2/5/15/25 mins); throughout the session, there is a professional tarot reader present & attendees can choose to have their tarot privately read - if they wish, for an extra cost during the art session (this is a lovely optional extra!)
8:45pm-9pm - A chance to browse and buy with cash, the good quality/vintage clothes/accessories, which attendees have brought to sell. Also a chance to network businesses and creative projects/swap business cards, flyers and samples. Additionally an opportunity to simply chat, giggle, book express facials & book to attend other LASS events*
9pm - time to disappear into the night to allow the Community Centre to close.
Anyway, that's the brief lowdown, but there's so much more info below, so if you're curious to know more re. LASS, my art model journey, your own opportunity to model at LASS, what equipment you need to bring & the facilities, then please read on....
In the meantime, I can't wait to see you all.
Lins **
P.S. if you have a query that isn't answered in the info below, please message me via: [email protected]
EXTRA INFO: WHY I HAVE ESTABLISHED LASS:
Because of my own experiences of modelling & lots of discussions with so many different women, I realised that there is a niche gap in art classes - which my Ladies Art Salon Sessions (LASS) fills, & includes the best bits of all the different art venues! Anyway, the art gap is:
For all kinds of reasons, lots of women would love to create art in an all-female art session & absolutely, that includes all art abilities. You don't have to have sketched anything since you were at school OR you could be a professional artist already: It really doesn't matter because ALL women are welcome!
Also lots of women would love to have a go at being an art model themselves, whether clothed/portrait/life/costumed, & lots of women would love to do both things in a warm, welcoming fortnightly art session where they can drink some fizz (or a gorgeous alcohol-free equivalent); browse & buy (with cash) vintage clothes/accessories for sale (+ bring their own to sell); network their own businesses/creative endeavours & book an express holistic facial * ...& even book a Sculpture School 'Taster Day' course (I also work at The Sculpture School in North Tawton, where we create beautiful bronze human/animal sculptures) & this is what LASS is all about!
MY OWN ART MODEL JOURNEY/BACKGROUND:
I've been an art model myself (clothed/portrait/life/costumed) since July 2021 to support my History PhD (it's re. Italian Renaissance Women + their agency/resilience), which I'm currently studying at the University of Bristol. As mentioned above, I've art modelled for over 600 artists in London, St. Ives, Bath, Exeter, Florence etc, at prestigious art schools/for private artists/for regular professional art groups, as a portrait model/a life model/a costumed model/a model wearing my regular clothes/an animation model in a red catsuit (we were creating 'Cat Woman'!! Fun days!) & in many other guises...
I've been painted/sketched in pencil, charcoal, pastels, oils, watercolours, acrylics & photographed & even cast into a bronze sculpture. .It's been such a fantastic, wonderful, wild, exhilarating journey that I never anticipated I'd be lucky enough to experience in my mid-forties just as my own daughters have been setting out in their own lives & this can be a time when as women, we sometimes feel we've lost ourselves, BUT I can promise you, that that sense of adventure, is definitely still there!
I've met so many incredible, wonderful artists of all abilities along the way, some of whom are brilliant friends now; some create paintings/sculptures, which sell for tens of thousands of pounds all over the world & exhibit at The Royal Academy in London & other esteemed venues, whilst others sketch in pencil, charcoal, pastels etc, for their own benefit & to escape from daily life.
.....I've also been on the other side a few times too, drawing a model
NOTES RE: ATTENDING &/OR MODELLING AT LASS:
My aim for LASS is that ALL adult women feel they can come & make art in our sessions, no matter what ability you have (beginners absolutely welcome!) The LASS sessions are untutored & you need to bring your own art materials (easels, boards, clips & tables are available at the Exeter LASS salon but not at the other LASS venues).
I want any adult woman of any shape, size, age to feel that they can have a wonderful experience at LASS of celebrating life, art & female community. I've worked with a lot of artists who have health conditions (such as cancer, or disabilities), & my aim is that any woman going through any difficult life challenge (or not!) can come along & feel joy in creating art & forget their worries during our sessions.
However, you don't have to be going through any difficulties to come to LASS: you can just be your jolly self - but - if currently, you are going through pregnancy, menopause, grief, divorce, abandonment, empty nest syndrome, anxiety at being at university, feeling lonely, whatever, then LASS is here to help you because it is a gorgeous, positive, happy safe haven of fun/art!
(My own dad died in July 2024, so I understand grief & I've also gone through divorce, raising children etc...I trained as a Counsellor too, so that's helped - but just to clarify, LASS sessions aren't counselling sessions: they are fun, welcoming, upbeat ART sessions for women to find joy/peace/a time to relax, have a giggle & escape the craziness of our daily lives).
LASS uses professional and beginner art models of all shapes/sizes/ages over 18, including more mature women.
When I founded LASS, I wanted to encourage body diversity & the use of mature art models too, as many older women have told me that they'd love to have a go at art modelling but feel too old/too body conscious/too judged & this is what I want to dispel. I don't want any women to feel uncomfortable about their bodies/looks/age, but rather I want to celebrate life/bodies/faces in art at all stages of adult womenhood. After all, we are so lucky to be alive, so let's forget all the usual angst we feel about age/shape/lines etc & just damn well enjoy ourselves, capturing a moment, now, in art.
HAVING A GO AT BEING AN ART MODEL AT LASS:
If any woman aged 18+ to as old as you like! (I've had a 90-year-old apply to model - Fab!) would like to have a go at being our model, please email me: [email protected] ; You will be paid £30 to model per session at LASS+tips!
Each model can choose their own poses & whether they are gowned-up in a special costume, aka. 'cosprop'/draped/a portrait model/a nude 'life' model/or wearing some of their regular clothes but LASS also needs life models pretty regularly as life modelling is the 'spine' of art drawing groups (also life modelling really helps anyone wanting to become a human figure bronze sculptor, as I will explain in our sessions), so life modelling is often required...
(but I don't want any woman who would like to model - but really doesn't want to life model, to feel they can't have a go - hence the flexibility of choosing how you want to model & what in!)
I have to say being a life model is incredibly empowering & it's a meditative experience! It is truly liberating & especially amidst a group of women; it makes you feel very at peace with your body, but I want all of my models to have the choice.
If you do want to be an art model at LASS, I simply ask that you attend one session first, so you understand how LASS works and at that session, we can meet & I will book you in to model at a future LASS session.
MY LONGER TERM PLANS FOR LASS:
Later in 2026, I'll be delivering some talks based on my PhD re: some incredible inspiring women from history incl. art history, such as Artemisia Gentileschi & also re: the concepts of women taking agency/finding resilience strategies - which are also part of my PhD; these talks will be held separately & will be deeply empowering as what I have researched has empowered me enormously! There will be other events also - such as a fashion show; cocktail parties & a special 'Dragon's Den' type event, where any attendees can pitch their businesses/products/creative endeavours to us all in a series of individual 10-min speeches - not to get funding - but just so we're aware of these amazing ventures & can support them/spread the word as word of mouth is so crucial.
DISABLED ACCESS/CAR PARKING:
The Exeter and Rock venues have disabled access and parking but the other venues do not (unfortunately) have disabled access. (Re: Exeter - Please contact Exeter Community Centre to reserve a disabled car parking space).
HOLISTIC FACIALS AT LASS:
These will start soon in Spring 2026 ...further info to follow soon
Thanks so much for your time & see you at LASS. **
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Exeter Community Centre, 17 Saint Davids Hill, Exeter, United Kingdom
GBP 14.00
