More Than A Muse

This week, Stauney introduces us to the personal portrait artist of Marie Antoinette, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Vigée Le Brun was an early French painter known for her close associations with the famous aristocracy of Paris, and later - most of the European royals. We talk about her early tutelage under her father, her rise to fame and career at the early age of 14, her tastemaking "It girl" status...

Reading is trendy again! Since the Harry Potter and Twilight craze, we haven't seen the internet as obsessed with books as they have been in the past two years with the rise of #booktok, a subset of TikTok focused on book recommendations, authors, booksellers and anything else of the literary sense. From the publishing and printed book industry to believed to have been completely dying out, to now...

Presents and the patriarchy? Misogyny under the mistletoe? Santa and... sexism? Today we're talking about Christmas and the unfair division of holiday labor that happens during this season of merriment. In "traditional households" most of the holiday chores, decorating, Christmas cards, present shopping, gift wrapping, treats and dinners, and hosting, all tend to fall to one individual: the woman....

Another monthly bonus book episode and this one is NOT to be missed with the cutest Christmas romance that filled Stauney and Sadie with absolute yuletide glee. "Faking Christmas" by Cindy Steel is a highly rated and self-published adorable new release this year that details a cute Christmas romance and we adored it. We discuss our love for the book, our Romance Novel episode that is criminally un...

Although she was one of the first recipients of the Triple Crown, the first actress ever to win a Tony and Oscar for the same role, and one of the most awarded Broadway actresses of all time, Shirley Booth is largely forgotten and often only remembered for her role on a sitcom. This week, Sadie reminds us of this award-winning actress whose life was not an easy one, being estranged early from her...

Every year in December, you can expect to hear the same classic Christmas songs that cue you into the beginning of the holiday season. Whether it's the 13 opening notes of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" or the melodic melodies of Christmas classics like "Silent Night" or "White Christmas", it seems that the same songs have been around... well forever. Today we dive into the LONG...

Stauney talks about a beloved American painter, Anna Mary Robertson Moses, also known as "Grandma" Moses. With a 20 year farming career alongside her husband and ten children, Moses didn't start painting for profit until her late 70's. However, her climb to acclaim was fast paced thereafter with her being featured in Times Magazine for her 100th birthday, selling paintings for $5 to $10,000 within...

In this month's bonus book episode, we sat down to chat with Ruth from @eveningcrickets who recommended on TikTok, this month's book "This Woman's Work: Essays on Music" edited by Kim Gordon and Sinead Gleeson. This book is a beautiful collection of essays from different women about the musicians that inspired and fascinated them throughout their lives. We discussed the collection of essays from t...

Today Sadie introduces us to one of the most accomplished women in history. Maya Angelou is one of those women who have been quoted so many times, it almost overshadows the incredible woman and her marvelous life behind the memorable words. Known for her famous memoirs, Maya Angelou's life has been riddled with lessons and accomplishments that could fill multiple lives, including being the first f...

If you think of cave paintings, you think of animals and handprints and dark caves. But have you ever wondered who was behind those prehistoric works of art? You probably immediately assumed men, and you wouldn't be alone in that. However, recent studies have found that nearly 75% of the handprints found in most primitive caves were women leading to immediate outrage from many researchers... and w...

You probably haven't heard of Angle De Cora, (or Hinook-Mahiwi-Kalinaka) but this artist and designer from the Winnebago/Ho-chunk indigenous community and once was considered "The First Great Indian Artist," (which today we're able to see as a twisted, backhanded, and incorrect compliment), but shows how prominent her creative work was at the time, with her even being referred to as a genius by ed...

On October 21st the world was graced by THREE killer pop albums from three pop icons. Taylor Swift released her 10th studio album 'Midnights' breaking around 15 records within only a week of release. Meghan Trainor is topping TikTok with her 5th studio album 'Takin' it Back' and Carly Rae Jepsen isn't far behind with her 6th studio album 'The Loneliest Time'. We talk about the TikTok relevancy of...

It's a bonus episode perfect for the end of this spooky month and we're wrapping up with our thoughts after reading the iconic monster novel, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. If you've been watching our Instagram lives where we've been recapping the books, then you know the ultimate sorrow we feel for the darling monster and the utter horror at the neglect of Frankenstein. Join us for an episode as w...

It's Halloween and the last official episode of More Than A Muse Monster month! Have you ever noticed modern monsters are mostly men... or some form of man? The creatures of mythology are often similarly afflicted... and yet, hidden history is riddled with the stories of women who turned into monstrous forms... but maybe for good reason? This week we are diving into the deep mythology and folklore...

It's another installment of More Than A Muse Monster month! Today we're talking about the woman behind arguably the most famous gothic monster ever created, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, which also happens to be the first science fiction novel ever written, AND the first monster story. Mary Shelley was a true goth icon with many spooky life events perfect for October including - losing...

If you've ever watched a Halloween classic, you've seen one of the most iconic spooky leading ladies ever - the extremely talented Winona Ryder. From her recent popularity in Stranger Things to her earlier roles in Beetlejuice, Heathers, Dracula, Edward Scissorhands... Should we continue? Her birthday is even only TWO nights before the iconic spine-chilling holiday.  We talk about the early life o...

Are You Smarter than the Podcast Hosts? It's our podcast birthday and we're back with the second year of our trivia, to test our knowledge on all of the female artists we've discovered and covered in the past 12 months! If you've listened to all of our episodes, this is a great chance to show us how much smarter you are than us (we can't remember everything and DEFINITELY get some wrong). If you h...

IT'S SPOOKY SEASON!!! We're so excited to kick off October with Stauney talking about Milicent Patrick, the only female movie monster maker, most known for her design of the Gill-man from the Universal classic horror flick, "The Creature of the Black Lagoon". From growing up on the major architectural site of Hearst Castle to being a part of the first round of female animators ever hired at Disney...

This week, we're talking FUNNY GIRL. Did you know that Fanny Brice was an actual female performer and comedian? We talk about the original inspiration for the now famous show, the constant setbacks and drama it faced since its inception, and the star Barbara Streisand became on the show's set. Then we get to sit down with the Lovely Lena, a co-host of the podcast 'Recovering Gleek,' and a New York...

This week, Sadie memorializes the stunning Olivia Newton-John who just recently passed away. Although most famous for her starring role in Grease, the Australian actress had a long and pretty successful country music career before settling on the screen for her iconic role opposite Travolta, as well as Xanadu and a slew of other films, and then releasing the MOST popular song of the eighties 'Phys...

You've probably heard of the recent Elvis biopic that came out this year, but do you know more about the man behind the screen... or even more so, the women that stood behind him, were overshadowed by him, and even inspired him? Today we're talking about the women BEHIND Elvis. From Big Mama Thorton to Priscilla Presley, Ann-Margret Olsson, and beyond, we discuss the controversial relationships wi...

This week, Stauney is talking about one of her personal inspirations, Bea Feitler, a groundbreaking graphic designer from the sixties and seventies who wasn't afraid to embrace the bizarre and unconventional. Feitler was one of the youngest art directors ever when she took her co-director position with her contemporary Ruth Ansel and the two took the major magazine world by storm winning award aft...

We made it to 100 Episodes!! We get to be all reflective and reminisce on our favorite people, topics, and more that we covered that have inspired and helped shape us into the women and artists we are. We also talk about female friendships and the difference they make. Episodes Like This One: Introducing More Than A Muse , One Year Pop Quiz ,  Follow us on Instagram @morethanamuse.podcast See Priv...

This week, we're spending our time in 18th and 19th century Paris with four great ladies and fundamental artists of Impressionism: Marie Bracquemond, Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, and Eva Gonzalès. All four spent significant amounts of time in the Paris inner circles, with many (if not all) of them related to the most prominent figures in impressionism. They also all overcame family obstacles, gen...

This week, Sadie introduces us to a Nashville country icon, Minnie Pearl. A significant character of comedic history, Pearl was a fixture at the Grand Ole Opry (and the first solo female member) for more than 50 years and was the first female comedian inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She also starred for a short time on a country television show and even had a short stint in the fried...