The MUSE Series by LA artist Shanna Galloway

The MUSE series, my current project, is inspired by the antiquities collection at the Getty Museum in Malibu. I am using the series as a way of exploring the concept of inspiration and I refer loosely to the nine muses in Greek mythology. Using drapery on the model, I am playing with the idea of how our costumes inform how we think and create. The question then becomes - who or what is the muse? Is the muse the model? Or is the drapery the muse? Or does wearing the drapery and holding specific objects invoke inspiration?
The Greek muses inspired. They inspired music, song, dance and writing. They held, wore and were associated with specific objects. So I have the model hold objects which may be historically accurate or may be personal to me or to the model. In this painting the model holds a feather or quill pen. The pen is symbolic of writing and is made of a feather which I am using to refer to birds. It is green symbolizing spring, rebirth and a time of much birdsong.