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Today, I bring you another magnificent Art Gown by the talented Resa McConaghy. This amazing creation is called …

Goddess Mnemosyne & the Nine Muses

In Greek mythology, Mnemosyne is the Titan Goddess of memory. Her parents are Uranus and Gaea. Her eleven god and goddess siblings are Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Rhea, Themis, Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Cronus, Crius and Iapetus.

Mnemosyne was tasked with naming all of the objects on earth. She is also acredited with many other realities in the world of myths.

However, I am here presenting an Art Gowns idea of Mnemosyne and her nine children, the Muses.

After conquoring the Titans; Zeus, an Olympian, banished all the men into the Underworld. The women remained on earth. So it came that Zeus visited Mnemosyne. Diguised as a Shepheard, he spent nine nights with her. She had nine children from those nights bedded with Zeus, The King Of the Gods. These are the nine Muses of Greek Mythology.

The Making Of Goddess Mnemosyne & the Nine Muses

It all began with a long length of red silk jaquard. This fabric was repurposed from the first Art Gown I ever made. A one shoulder drape seemed Grecian, so I started there.

The asymetric feel was continued in the back, with an interesting strapping.

Then yards and yards of 120 inches wide curtain sheers, bought at a liquidation sale for $1.00/yd, were finished with a rolled hem technique. The strapping allowed me to play with the draping of the sheers, by giving places to weave them in and out of.

The Nine Muses

Our neighbourhood is filled with Vintage Shops. Vintage clothing boutiques, furniture stores, vinyl record & turntable shops, jewelry counters and knick-knacks galore. It was in a knick-knacks market that 9 interesting brass decorations were found. These 9 pieces became my representaion of the Muses.

In no particular order:

Thalia & Melpomene

Thalia – The muse of comedy (agricultural science and geometry)

Melpomene – The muse of tragedy

Oh, the luck to find the theatrical masks of Comedy and Drama! They are the masks of Thalia & Melpomene.

Euterpe

She Who Pleases, is the Muse of Flute-playing. This is why she is oft portrayed with an aulos. An aulos was made of cane or wood. It had 3 or 4 finger holes. The Greeks usually used double reeds.

Calliope

She is the Muse of Epic Poetry.

Hesiod claims that she was the foremost among the nine Muses. Myth says that she inspired Homer while he wrote Iliad and Odyssey.

Often depicted holding a writing tablet, or the two Homeric poems, she attended worshipful kings and princes.

Polymnia

This Muse of divine hymns and mimic art also invented geometry and grammar.

She is at times depicted with a pensive look hidden behind a veil, or looking up to the sky holding a lyre.

Terpsichore

The Muse of Dance, she designed dances. She invented the harp and education. She was always having fun dancing. “Terpo” is Greek for being amused, hence Terpsichore.

She is portrayed holding a harp and dancing.

Clio

This Muse of History usually holds a scroll. Also at times she is depicted with a clarion in the right arm and a book in the left.

Urania

The Muse, whose name means heavenly, is the protector of celestial objects. She invented Astronomy. You often see her holding a celestial sphere and/or bearing stars.

Erato

(“The Lovely One”) was the Muse of Lyric Poetry, Love and protector of weddings. Naturally, she’s presented with a lyre, and sometimes love arrows and bow. Her name comes from the Greek word “Eros” – the feeling of falling in love.

The Muses were often depicted accompanied by Apollo. Apollo symbolized discipline and application to the arts. Later they stayed to entertain guests by Zeus’ throne. Here they told tales of Zeus’ accomplishments and sang the story of creation

https://study.com/academy/lesson/mnemosyne-mythology-symbol-facts.html

https://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/The_Muses/the_muses.html https://mythology.net/greek/titans/mnemosyne/

Mythology is a complicated tapestry. The more you learn, the more threads you have to weave with. There are oodles of sites online, and endless books and art on the subject.

The links I present are a few pages I used to remind myself of the story of Mnemosyne and the Nine Muses.

https://mythology.net/

Is a fabulous and well organized site. It covers Greek, Roman, Egyptain, Norse and other myths and creatures.

About Resa McConaghy

My name is Resa McConaghy. I’m a semi-retired Costume Designer for film and television.

My first Art Gown “Strawberry Kisses” was to create some beauty in my life after mom died. It was a hit with people, so I continued to make and post more “Art Gowns”.

At some early point, I began upcycling, repurposing and in general making the gowns out of any fabric or notions that were not new goods. I was using up anything headed for landfill.

The Art Gowns are available to borrow or rent (situation dependant) for Gala’s, photo shoots and film production.

Resa’s Costume Design website: https://resamcconaghy.com/

Resa’s Art Gown blog: https://artgowns.com/2025/11/22/held-inside-the-folds-of-time/

Res’as Graffiti Lux Art & More blog: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/2025/11/29/gal-lery-i/

Resa has a fantastic book. You can find out more about it here: https://graffitiluxandmurals.com/artists/

About Robbie Cheadle

South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, written and illustrated four poetry books and written and illustrated one celebration of cake and fondant art book with recipes. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

Social Media Links

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/robbiecheadle.bsky.social
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyFo_OJLPqFa9ZhHnCfHUA
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
TSL Publications: https://tslbooks.uk/product-tag/robbie-cheadle/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Robbie-Cheadle/author/B01N9J62GQ
Unsplash profile: https://unsplash.com/@r_cheadle