Don’t let the doctorate in human sexuality and Ph.D. in erotology fool you: It’s all about the art. Dr. Laura Henkel is not only an aficionado but a true connoisseur of art. (The erotic part was added for extra measure.) For those who’ve never taken an art appreciation course or have little tolerance for the pedestal art elicits from society, you can learn a thing or two from this unassuming erotic art appraiser.

The common misconception about art is that it serves no purpose save to be appreciated by collectors and museum goers. Dr. Henkel, in her own way, would tell you otherwise. She’ll draw up examples of recent priceless artifacts that are worth more than a Bentley in platinum. Why are they worth so much? Because they reflect a great social change; in her line of work, a great social sexual change. Who knew porn could be so highbrow? Art just got more interesting. Read on as Dr. Henkel educates the masses on the sexiness of art and its key role in recording and expressing social revolutions.

SexHerald: You have a rather unusual but interesting occupation. You appraise erotic art and you charge up to $300 an hour for it. Tell us what that’s all about.

Dr. Laura Henkel: Basically, I’m usually called in when someone is specifically giving a donation to a charitable organization. So, an outside appraiser is needed for that, and I’m one of the few people in the country that do that. I go in and evaluate to see how much it’s worth in terms of fair market value. Sometimes, it’s a little trickier with erotic art because there’s really not a lot of public evaluations for that so I have to use mainstream comparables and then apply it to the erotic art and then also take into consideration the material that I’m appraising is typically rare, or very difficult to find. A lot of the memorabilia was either discarded by a family member of someone who discovered it and didn’t appreciate it or so forth, so it’s really a treasure trove and an untapped market in many respects.

SH: As you mentioned, there really is no precedent set for this sort of thing. If there was no mainstream art market, how would you evaluate these pieces of art?

Dr. Henkel: My background experience… I have a doctorate in human sexuality and then I have a Ph.D. that gear towards erotic art: erotology. I’m also involved with putting together an erotic museum in Las Vegas. I’m choosing the art that’s going into the museum, determining what exhibits will be shown and I’ve pretty much flown all over the world for that. Just on my education and experience, I have connections with people... There might be something that’s fine art, which isn’t necessarily my expertise. I know people in that area that can assist me and then I use my knowledge and education towards the eroticism part of it and that’s how I come up with a determination for an evaluation.

SH: To expound a bit more, sometimes terms like “vintage” and “classics” signify an item as valuable. Is that true with erotic art as well?

Dr. Henkel: It is, but also there’s a lot of art that has come out in the 20th century even, that’s really reflective of, let’s say, the American sexual revolution. A lot of the stuff and material is folk art. It’s indicative of who we are, who we were. It’s a definite reflection of our society at a certain time. So, take gay erotic art from the 40s to the 70s. It’s so scarce; it’s there but it’s so scarce and it’s highly valuable because it was a subject matter that was extremely taboo. So, a lot of people have just kept it under wraps. It’s not really until today and that people are more comfortable with being more public about their collection. You still have some very, very high-end collectors who are very private about their collection. I’ve seen some amazing things, and I’ve actually asked them to participate with the museum to let others see the work and they’re very proprietary about it. They won’t let anyone else see the work. [laughing] It’s kind of funny.

SH: So, what happens if the collector passes on? All that priceless art is just going to sit and rot?

Dr. Henkel: Today, we’re very lucky because there are more organizations that are much into preserving the artifacts—just really in this last decade. The Exodus Trust, who has the largest archive of erotic material, is actually the one that’s going to be managing and housing the artifacts at this museum. They’ve been doing it for 40 years. It’s a place where people who are aware of this organization would bequeath the artifacts. Sometimes, a wife would consider it barbaric and throw it out right away. It’s shocking how some people can just destroy something because they’re not comfortable with the subject matter. It really is that we’re all sexual beings and how can we just completely eliminate that aspect of who we are and how people can be so judgmental of others. It’s always kind of shocking to me.

But again, I think that’s part my background in training. I was trained to be a sexologist. I think that’s another reason why I’m very qualified to do these appraisals because when I’m asked to do an appraisal, whether it’s for a collector interested in buying something or someone interested in selling something or someone interested in donating something, I don’t judge the person and their collection. I am just looking at the collection as a whole and looking at the value of it. I think that has made me so much more successful in terms of specializing in this area. It is very unique, and it tends to be confidential and discreet because there’s an entire spectrum of sexuality and there’s an entire spectrum of art. And art is a way people can express themselves, it’s a way people can explore with less persecution than other form. Erotic art is an expression of acts of sex and love.

Now, I’m involved in a documentary regarding Alex DeRenzy. He was a very prolific filmmaker for adult films; he’s actually the precursor to the Mitchell Brothers. I’m getting involved of an exhibit of him at the museum as well. He was actually written up in Time magazine as Cecil DeMille of porn: same production, 35 mm film, and things like that.

SH: Conversely, how do you appraise something as not being worth anything or not as much as the person thought it was?

Dr. Henkel: That’s really interesting because I’m in a unique position where I know different countries, different markets, different collectors. So, what may not be very popular here in the United States may be very popular in Germany or maybe very popular in Japan. When I meet with a client, I have to ascertain what the appraisal is for. Is it for sale? Is it to procure or for donation purposes? It really depends. There are collectors of all kinds of materials and it’s very much of an underground movement. It’s slowly becoming more mainstream, more acceptable.

SH: I believe you’re also a professor. What do you teach?

Dr. Henkel: I teach at the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. I give classes on erotology. I’m teaching students the value of erotic art and how to go about appraising erotic art.

SH: Before delving into human sexuality, you were a legal secretary for 18 years. Why the change in careers? How did you get started in all this?

Dr. Henkel: When I was young, I really didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. So, I didn’t take college very seriously. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I was thinking, ‘You know, I’m ready to go to school.’ I got an undergraduate degree in psychology and decided I was going to become a psychologist and then I thought, ‘Well, I’m already in my 30s when I graduate and I’m going to be pretty much like everyone else. I really need to think about what I should specialize in.’ I was expecting to go to graduate school in Berkeley for psychology when I thought, ‘What can I specialize in?’ I started thinking about the different areas and I just thought, ‘Well sexuality. I’ve always been very comfortable about my sexuality; people have always been comfortable talking to me about their sexuality.’

I looked into different options, different schools, different programs. There’s not a lot of programs that offer intense coursework in studies in the field of sexuality. Even doctors: they require very little education in terms of sexuality. So, I found the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality and I thought, ‘Well let me just go for a professional degree there and then I’ll go back to Berkeley and get my ID degree.’ Once I got to the Institute, I really didn’t find a reason to go to Berkeley because with the Institute, I became familiar with the idea of using sex surrogate: it was a much more different approach, a much more humanistic and holistic approach in terms of working with people regarding their sexual issues. I was going to focus on couples going through the infertility process as I had gone through that myself.

Once I was at the Institute, the archives just surrounded me. They had massive, massive amounts of art and film and everything. I just started asking the value of everything. I’ve always been an art aficionado. Even in my 20s, I would buy a painting and not eat for a week. I took appraisal classes and just started slowly. It took me a VERY long time to get enough appraisals under my belt. I volunteered many times just to get the experience. Basically, a door opened and I walked through it. One door led to another. I definitely enjoy what I do.

SH: What is it about art that’s so attractive to you?

Dr. Henkel: First of all, it’s the talent involved in expressing an emotion, a feeling, to bring you somewhere else. It’s almost the fantasy aspect of it, the voyeuristic aspect of it. Art has so many fantastic facets in it. It’s just not a painting; it can be music, it can be dance, I’m very much moved by these talents of others. I’d like to think I’m talented but I definitely live vicariously through others. I’m just very much in awe of it in many respects. It takes me places; it allows my mind to go places or it allows me to feel things. It’s like going to see a movie and you experience someone’s life in a matter of two hours and you’re like, ‘Wow!’ You walk away from the movie theater and you’re still thinking about it; you kind of want to see the next chapter of the person. I’m very moved by the art. But, it doesn’t have to be something expensive. It could be whatever makes you smile, makes you feel good. That, to me, is what art should be.

There’s a guy in town in Sausalito. He was homeless; someone gave him a boat. He just started to paint. Everyone gives him brushes, everyone gives him paint, canvases. I’m one of the biggest collectors of his art, and it’s great. He goes by the name of Bo; now, he calls himself Van Bo. [laughs] Whenever I have someone come into town, I introduce them to Bo and now he has paintings in Helsinki, he has paintings in Sussex, he’s gettin’ around [laughs]. To me, art is not something that should be out of the hand, or unreachable to people. It’s a way to give people permission to just express themselves, really.

SH: Lastly, you live on a houseboat. Tell me what that’s like. How big is it?

Dr. Henkel: It’s 36 feet. There’s a living room area, there’s a bedroom area, there’s a kitchen, there’s a bathroom with plenty of hot water; it’s a home and it rocks. And I have my dog, a Corgie-Shepherd mix, a big 60 lb. dog. And her boyfriend comes over, he’s a 100 lbs.

SH: Why did you decide to live on a boat?

Dr. Henkel: I was born in Miami and I lived in Miami for many years and I was always around the water. Then I moved out to California for my graduate studies. I worked full time and I went to school full time. I was out here in a beautiful area and really wasn’t able to discover as much as I’d liked to but I did go sailing a couple of times on the Bay. And the Bay is one of the most difficult places to learn how to sail simply because of the wind. If you could sail here, you could sail, really, anywhere in the world. And, I just found myself not wanting to leave the water so I went out and found myself a boat without even learning how to sail and put my house in storage… and I’m still learning how to sail!