SONYA
	2 min gestures                             Hilde Lambrechts

If there is one model in Ottawa who deserves the predicament ‘unique’, it is Sonya. She is full bodied, has lots of positive energy and she comes with an attitude that is pure fun to portray!

Sonya started her modeling career in January 2000 when posing for a painting. The artist admired her ‘presence’ and encouraged her to take on modeling as a career. In August 2000 she took the model training session at the Ottawa school of art and discovered that she was in fact a ‘natural’.

Sonya instinctively knows to turn around during gesture work, to use angles in her poses and to openly present her body to the artist in front of her, rather than closing herself in with props and limbs. She enjoys working with her arms and embraces the opportunity to be spontaneous and creative, and to give the artist “something exciting”. Therefore she prefers the shorter poses over the longer ones, the latter are often reclining. She sometimes surprises her artists with props like hats, masks, wings, and boas and wears them as if she lives in them. The lady can act.

And in the meantime she is also a social person who likes to know the artist on a deeper level; that way she gets more enjoyment out of her modeling sessions and from the positive interaction with the artist she learns to become a better model. Sonya realizes that she cannot please everyone, but she sure pleases a lot of people, as the room is always packed when Sonya ‘performs’. She knows she doesn’t fit the ideal body type, but she feels empowered, energized and beautiful when she poses. She is very much alive and feels that the love for her work transients in her poses. And yes, she is beautiful and so are her poses.

Sonya works for schools, life drawing groups and individual artists. And with every great show comes a reminder from the big lady: she is not an object, she is not a mannequin, and please don’t leave the room before she is done with you!!