We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Pascale Sexton Bilgis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Pascale Sexton, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Creating from our own hands and being able to earn a living through it is a magical feeling. Doing art is a meditation in itself, it helps the soul grow and express it self, so when i realised people enjoyed my work it felt like a double win, as it is good for me but others too! Being an artist is a very free ” job” as we choose our own hours. Sometimes we work late at night, or very early morning before the children get up. But as any other jobs it takes good self discipline. There is no one to tell us what to do or when to work, and sometimes being your boss might lead to procrastination!
It is wonderful being able to work from home, especially as a mother of 4, and having the children doing their own art projects when there is paint and clay on the table. I am very grateful not to have a regular job and very careful to be self disciplined enough to create as much as I can. Creativity is a blessing, I think we all have it but some of us find the time to express it and make a living out of it.

Pascale Sexton, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I starting really concentrating on art when I was pregnant with my 4th child in 2017. I always enjoyed painting now and then, but with a very low self confidence in art, although I studied art at USC. Having finally some free time and a big belly, I took some pottery classes at Southern Pottery in Columbia, SC, with a very inspiring teacher named Donna.
Pottery was fine but I immediately brought home some clay to do my own handbuilding at home too. Since I painting and clay, I figured I could mix them together? So a year later I ended up with a lot of colorful painting with little ceramic tiles houses on it. The walls of my houses were full and I asked myself ” maybe those paintings should be seen by people? How would people respond to this strange mix media paintings!”
I gave a phone call to Alexandra White, head of the South Carolina Artist group who amazingly without questions asked welcomed me to join the group so my work could be displayed in several locations around Columbia SC. This phone call was the beginning of a great new life.
I think it is a big step for an artist to get out there and decide to show your work to the public. The SCA group helped with tutoring sessions about showing work on social media, opening a web site, applying for juried art shows, art events, writing an artist statement, and I just followed and went for it all the way.
My self confidence in art boomed when I received the grand prize at my first ever art festival which was the Rosewood Art and Music Festival in Columbia. I met a lot of people, got comissions, and by continuing art festival and juried art showed my work is finally know in South Carolina and considered as very unique. I received several other awards, 3 times grand prize at the Rosewood festival and Best In Show at the Piccolo Spoleto international festival in 2022.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is belonging to a good and strong artist community. Helping out other artists and sharing events, juried shows, buying their art is extremely rewarding as it helps getting your name out there too. I think being a artist on its own without any artist friends would be very difficult.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I Columbia SC we have a lot of restaurants and commercial places displaying local artist work. The local aspect of it helps a lot.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.pascalesextonfineart.com
• Instagram: Pascale bilgis
• Facebook: Pascale Sexton Bilgis