Topic: Your Muse

[Janet_P]

I've been reading about Margrethe Mather and Edward Weston. Their relationship wasn't only about Mather being the muse but about an artistically equal partnership in which both of them acted as muse to the other. It got me to thinking about muses.

I have never had a muse and I don't think it is confined to the woman being the muse even though that's what the cultural norm would be.
Do you have a muse?  How would you describe her/him/it?
What is the relationship between the two of you? Is it artistically equal or are you the one who drives the vision?

Janet

[Zoe]

I've had the pleasure of being the Muse. I felt it was artistically equal in exchange. I was full collaborator in the work between Bryce Lankard and myself. It is a extremely rewarding experience that has lasted for 10 years. When we both lived in New Orleans we would spend days photographing. Either with only myself as a model, or we would bring in other models and I would help art direct and so would the other models he would shoot. Those were fun days.

As a photographer I have found someone I consider equal artistically, Candace Nirvana... great model! But, she's literally on the other coast. So, it isn't like it was with Bryce and I. But when we get together the same kind of energy is there. She's also on her way to becoming a photographer, so it's a lot of fun to pass on my knowledge. What little of it there is. LOL

[Ed Sukach]

Yes, I do.  In the classic sense, she is an invisible, soft, quiet - and beautiful presence... not a physical being.  I don't know exactly where she is, but I am sure that she IS there.  Right now she has been silent too long ... check that ...she has not been silent - in some way I have not heard her.  Once in a while she can be an intense taskmaster.

The closest I can come to having a "physical" muse is Julia Cameron, author of The Artists Way. More than anything else her work there and the ideas she presents have changed my life.

[tread]

My son's middle name is actually "Muse" and I must say that being a father and photographer I might have started his manifest destiny to be my muse...or at least an apt model for some lucky shots...I am intrigued by the notion of a female muse to my art but don't realy open myself up for such...musings. I'm still looking for my personal vision in the mishmash of snaps and images, once I find that, then maybe I'll figure out a way to draw someone in and take something from them creatively...again, I am intrigued by the notion and Weston being a hero of mine I admire to outcomes of such a relationship...

Oh, here is Wilder Muse.

[Janet_P]

Sounds like three very different ways of working with a muse, all with equally beautiful results.

I love that shot of your son Tread, I remember seeing lots of other shots of your son (all lovely). Muse is a great name to have, did you name him with the whole art thing in mind?

Ed, I have a non-physical muse too (quite reticent at the moment) but I'd love to have the other sort too, just for a while, to see how that feels.

Zoe, it sounds like you have the whole muse thing working well for you, it must be pretty intense to have that kind of relationship with someone...

Janet

[Susan B.]

I have a few muses....
But my live-in muse and good luck charm is a four legged girl with a perfect nose and a serious Aussie Kelpie attitude.



Just got news she landed me on my sixth gallery wall this year.
Miss Muse is starting to pork out from all the thank you cookies she's been getting lately.

 

[RebekahP]

The birth of my first born inspired me to pick up a camera and she, along with her brother, continue to inspire me today.  So, my muses are my children.