For over twenty years Donna Nadeau has been photographing and painting backstage scenes, her co-dancers, and the men who paid to see them, in the strip bars and “gentleman’s” clubs in which she worked, from Maine to Las Vegas, beginning in 1980. Her intention was to document an extraordinary world—its colorful habitués, front-line gendered power structures, and sometimes harrowing psychologies—from the unheard perspective of the women around whom the entire cavalcade still revolves. With exquisite subtleties of form and palette Nadeau endows her watercolors with the atmospherics of these usually obscured environments, and their physical and social architectures—from drab backrooms to glittering, mirrored stages; destructive relationships, underworld dangers, and the financial pursuit that keeps the industry in tension. The artist’s own experiences are embedded in the vignettes she depicts, imbuing them with authenticity, humor, and stirring emotive impact. Nadeau teaches students her approach to capturing these moments. Learn new watercolor techniques while listening to the colorful stories that inspired Nadeau to pick up a brush in the first place.

Supply List

1. Drawing pencils: Turquoise or Kimberly brand, 2HB & 2B
2. Sandpaper block for sharpening
3. Kneaded &/or pink eraser
4. Arches Watercolor 140lb paper block or a drawing board & scotch brand (tan color only) masking tape if the paper is loose.
5. A good, sharp pocket knife (old timer makes a small one that will hold an edge) or box cutter for sharpening pencils to a super long, fine point
6. Small blow drier
7. Paper towels
8. Old sheet
9. Optional: If you want to add watercolor, bring paints on a plate or in a separated paint box
   • Windsor Newton flesh colors: Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Alizarin Crimson, French Ultra Marine