The Muses
The Muses are a collective designed to empower the aesthetics of femininity in all its forms. We create opportunities for creative souls around the world to meet, collaborate with, and inspire one other.
Come muse with us on our next adventure!
We are always looking to expand and diversify our collaborators. If you would like to recommend a new instructor for us, please use the form at the bottom of this page.
Syrie Moskowitz
Syrie Moskowitz, founder of The Muses Atlas, is a filmmaker, artist, and long time muse of photographers and painters alike, working Ellen Von Unwerth, Mark Seligar, Pamela Hanson, David Salle, Amy Arbus, George Holz, Salman Rushdie, David Michalek, and Jenny Morgan. Syrie has been featured on the cover of many magazines as well as in campaigns for Bacardi, Lancome, and Kate Spade. She is also an antique textile and furniture enthusiast and an avid rose gardener.
Elena Kanagy-Loux
Elena Kanagy-Loux is a descendent of the Amish and grew up between the US and Japan, where she was immersed in both traditional craft and DIY fashion. With a BFA in Textiles from FIT and an MA in Costume Studies from NYU, her work as a lacemaker and textile historian bridges the gap between modern and historical making practices. She was Collections Specialist at the Antonio Ratti Textile Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Rose Callahan
Rose Callahan is a New York-based photographer and director who focuses on character-driven portraits of cultural tastemakers. With curiosity and empathy she makes portraits that celebrate individuality and the transformative power of style. Rose is the co-author of two books, I Am Dandy and We Are Dandy, which profile diverse gentlemen from around the globe for whom dressing is elevated to an art.
Laren Stover
Laren Stover is a melancholy connoisseur known to frolic with faeries. She is the author of Bohemian Manifesto: A Field Guide to Living on the Edge, The Bombshell Manual of Style and Pluto, Animal Lover and is co-founder of Ivory Tower Studios, an award-winning stationery company. Laren is a fellow of Yaddo and Hawthornden. Her work has been published in The Paris Review Daily, The New York Times, Guernica, The Observer Interview and Faerie Magazine, where she was editor at large. She is working on a new novel which is a glamorous ghost story.
Elizabeth Ruggiero
Elizabeth Ruggiero is a 3rd degree black belt in Shito Ryu Karate and stunt actress for theatre, film, and television. She is a freelance stylist for modeling portraits and editorials, and a freelance choreographer and dancer in the southern US, focusing in lyrical, contemporary and original duet partnership. Elizabeth is a former fire and rescue technician and wilderness search and rescue operator.
Erin Orr
Erin K. Orr is a Brooklyn-based puppet artist, storyteller, education researcher and kitchen witch. She is absorbed in the creative alchemy of turning the raw ingredients of images, objects, folklore and food into a feast. Erin designs action research and curriculum to learn about and support diverse artistic literacies in early childhood. She is a designer of the Bridges Research, which develops pedagogy to teach art, literacy and social emotional learning and is disseminated through a US Department of Education funded open education resource website.
Ellen Von Unwerth
Ellen von Unwerth is a photographer and director best known for her playfully erotic images. She has photographed countless artists, musicians and models, including Madonna, David Bowie, Kate Moss, Uma Thurman, Cate Blanchett, and Beyonce. Her images have appeared in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Interview, and other publications. She has shot campaigns for Guess, Dior, John Galliano, Ralph Lauren, and more.
Kayla Ferguson
Kayla Ferguson is a classically-trained actress who has appeared in Off-Broadway shows, independent movies, and television series, including Boardwalk Empire. She gravitates towards roles that celebrate anachronism and romance. She is a master of style, costume, and guise, as well as an avid lover of cinema, adventure, and fine spirits.
Maria Kreyn
Maria Kreyn is a Russian born artist, educated in drawing at SORA, and at the University of Chicago (in math and philosophy). Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in the United States and Europe, and has traveled to multiple museums in China. The ABC TV series The Catch was inspired by her iconic painting Alone Together, and she was recent featured in Vanity Fair on Art (Nov 2018).
Jennifer-May Reiland
Jennifer May Reiland’s art is informed by a religious childhood where the End times were perpetually near. She confronts religiosity, gender roles, and human and animal suffering in her work. She attended Cooper Union, then spent a year in Paris as recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship. She has been a resident at, the Open Sessions program at The Drawing Center, the Studio Program at Queens Museum, with solo shows at Enrique Guerrero Gallery in Mexico City and Lawndale Art Center in Houston.
Belinda McGuire
Belinda McGuire is an American-Canadian dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, producer and teacher. She is the founding Artistic Director of Belinda McGuire Dance Projects which supports the research, development, production, and presentation of international and collaborative multidisciplinary dance performance. Her work, heralded for its remarkable emotional resonance and sinuous power, has toured across North and Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she has performed with The Limón Dance Company and The Metropolitan Opera Ballet, among others, and has taught and choreographed for Juilliard, Harvard, The Limón Institute, Marymount, Canada’s National Ballet School, Tisch, and Purchase, among others.
Contributors
After repeated hacking of our instagram account, we currently do not have a social media presence.
If this changes, you will be only be notified through our mailing list and this website.
The Muses Atlas, also know as Muses Escape, is open to all creative and aesthetic appreciating women and femme identifying folks. The Muses are a trans-inclusive collective and we stand in strong solidarity with our LGBTQ community. Please note we are not associated with any other person or account claiming to be affiliated with us. We will NEVER solicit you for money or make you pay for anything other than an event or retreat you decide to attend. If you have any questions about any emails requesting money or services from you that claim to be affiliated with either The Muses Atlas or Muses Escape, please contact us directly.
Muses Escape is a trademark owned by Muses Escape LLC. The Muses Atlas is a trademark owned by The Muses Atlas LLC