Inside the Studio

Pascale-Miria Taurua

Favorite material to work with?
Sometimes oil, sometimes “technique mixte” (oil, acrylic, collage) on canvas or wood panels.

What themes do you pursue?
People and especially women, maybe because I have 4 sisters. I was crowned Miss France in 1978. It was a very special time for me and I had many good experiences, but for various reasons I had to give it up 6 months later. From that period of life when I was a model for magazines until now, I have always be surrounded by fashion or that kind of ambiance.

How many years as an artist?
Since my first exhibition in a gallery, I would say 17 years.

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
Be yourself, never compare yourself to another artist, and never give up.

Where is your studio?
In an old Haussmannien French building right in the middle of a French town, Pau, where there is a big castle which used to belong to King Henry IV.

Art school or self-taught?
I went to “Le Conservatoire des Arts” in Tahiti, French Polynesia.

Prefer to work with music or in silence?
Both. The music of the silence runs in my work.

What’s around the corner from your place?
In Pau there is a nice French market with all the local goods.

Where can we find you outside the studio?
When it’s summer I go to the beach in Biarritz, France. Otherwise I love Bilbao in Spain, having a good time with my friends, and I love to visit the  Guggenheim Museum.

Favorite contemporary artist?
Lucian Freud for his realistic work.

If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do?
I would have my own gallery.

Day job?
I teach the technique of oil painting 3 days of the week. The 4 days left I work on my paintings for galleries.

What do you collect?
Not really much of a collector.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
I would say Edgar Degas, one of the women taking a bath or the dancers.

Who are your favorite writers?
Victor Hugo. What a man!