Pegi Taylor is a freelance writer, performance artist and a nude --or "art" -- model. Not a pin-up girl or the star of a series of adult videos, rather a self-described "Plain Jane" who, every week, walks into a classroom filled with artists, removes her clothing and poses for three hours while students sketch her hair, muscles, limbs and, well, everything else.
Instead, modeling once helped Taylor heal wounds, and today, she sculpts her real-life art modeling experiences into essays and avant garde performance art pieces. For many of us, public nudity is a line we will never cross, yet we cannot help being just a little bit curious about those who do.
OMC: When and why did you start modeling? PT: I started modeling in I was pregnant, and if I hadn't been pregnant, I never would've thought of it. I was a prudish bookseller Taylor was co-owner of Webster's Books on Downer Avenue I went to an art show of an acquaintance's wife, and I saw a little cluster of pen and ink nudes and I wanted a picture like that of me, so I approached the artist, and she was eager to have a pregnant model.
I modeled in her home studio, and it was a lovely introduction to modeling, very warm and supportive. OMC: Elaborate on how being pregnant affected your decision to model nude. PT: Being pregnant made me feel like I didn't matter anymore. I felt like a bottle with a message inside, and the message was what mattered.
I had given myself up to the pregnancy, and I wasn't as shy. And as an anthropologist, I felt like a part of the evolutionary tree. It made me feel much more open. OMC: You went from posing nude for an artist to working professionally as an art model. That's a big leap. How did that happen? PT: In , my husband left. I simply needed to see myself. I had been married for 12 years and I had no idea who I was.
