Terpsichore - The Muse of Dance

Terpsichore was one of the nine muses, and the mother of the Sirens. Here my friend Coral Calypso, also a burlesque dancer, is modelling as the goddess. I thought it would be appropriate for Coral to be the muse of dance, given her profession as a burlesque dancer. I have worked with her before doing a hula-girl themed photo shoot in South Shields.

Pandora

One of my characters for this Greek Mythology project is Pandora, the first woman created by the Gods. Zeus gave her a gift of a box, but told her never to open it. This box contained all the terrible spirits in the world, and she let them out by sheer curiosity.

The model is one of my oldest and dear friends, Katy Vanderhorst. She is Pandora as to me, she was my first best friend, and therefore, the first woman. Together we have encountered many adventures, and will certainly be experiencing many more.

In this photo shoot we were experimenting with smoke bombs. Despite the bad weather and freezing cold I think we managed to get some good shots. The dress was borrowed from The Little Theatre in Gateshead, and I had my boyfriend help with special effects (lighting the smoke bombs).

Greek Mythology, Textiles and Photography...

I am currently studying Contemporary Textile Products at Cleveland College of Art and Design, and it is now time for my Final Major Project in third year! For this project I shall be attempting to create an instillation, which is based on Greek Mythology. In my minor project I conducted a series of photo shoots with some of my friends portrayed as characters from Greek Mythology.

The reason I have chosen Greek Mythology as a theme, is that ever since I was little I have always loved the stories, and I feel that Greek Mythology was a wonderful way the Greeks explained terrible and wonderful events. For example the story of Persephone, where Demeter the goddess of the harvest lost her daughter to Hades for three months of the year, and stopped the plants from growing, and this is how the seasons were created.

This week I have been creating mood boards, and I made a book sculpture depicting my characters; Agaue, Daphne, Medusa, Medea, Chiron, Persephone, Pandora, Dionysus, The Moirae, Cerberus, Terpsichore, Lethe and Oedipus.