I've worked over a dozen different jobs in my life time but being an artist model has to be the oddest one. The Rev. Robert Whipkey has been charged with indecent exposure. I'd be laid off if I refused to take my clothes off.

Suppose I stepped up on the platform and said, "I'm not taking my clothes off today."

"But you have to. You're a model."

"The rest of you don't take you're clothes off. Why should I?"

"I'm shocked," the art teacher says. "You still have clothes on."

In the case of the Rev. Whipkey, he just chose the wrong job.

I remember the first time I was a guest when the Colorado nudists had a winter's meeting at the YWCA in downtown Denver. Because the YWCA was a public building, the public was allowed to join the other nudists. So I took my clothes off. Otherwise, I would look out of place and not like the other people in the group.

In an art group, it's quite different. I'm the only one with my clothes off. Imagine if I got in an elevator sans clothes. Or delivered the mail in the buff. Indecent exposure, pure and simple.

An exhibitionist is out to shock people. An artist model, by agreement between the instructor, students, and him or herself, creates a perfectly balanced environment. If a priest stepped up before his congregation nude, he would be immediately arrested. If, while he was in the nude, he struck an artistic pose, he would still be arrested. Rev. Whipkey may have had the calling but he is definitely in the wrong profession.