Art Inspiration: Pandora; A Gift From The Gods: Final

 

For the past four months I have been posting different elements of a project I have been working on. This has been an independent project that I worked on in my spare time. Yet over the past four months my spare time has been very limited. It took longer to complete than I realized but finally I have finished it.

In my life there have been moments that inspire me to create and wonder about different possibilities. Working with children has always been a catalyst for these moments. On numerous occasions I have provided a drawing or art class for the children and their curiosity has inspired many ideas and creations. Some of these inspirations have produced scenes of me drawing them camping, or as characters from Harry Potter, but the majority of them enjoyed me creating a scene based on the Greek gods. I have posted this work so titled “The Greek Gods, Distraction on Olympus”.

This experience was so enjoyable that I have been thinking of creating another scene from Greek Mythology for some time. I have always enjoyed Greek Mythology and a friend has been asking me questions about Greek myth while we have been going to art exhibits. Our discussions and these different excursions to art institutions inspired me to come up with a new scene.

It began at an art exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) were we attended the works of Henry Moore and Francis Bacon. In the exhibit I saw a sketch by Moore called Pandora. It caught my eye because if you have every seen Moore’s works, it is about the human form but the heads are small and the focus is on the body itself. Yet in this drawing he drew Pandora with a full head and face to proper proportion. This was Moore’s idea or take on the legend of Prometheus and Pandora, my favourite Greek Myth story. It made me wonder what would my take or depiction of this story be if I drew it. With that thought in mind I began the journey to create my depiction of the creation of Pandora.

From those humble beginnings, the idea was translated onto paper and then I redrew them on the computer as the images I posted. I must emphasize that these drawings are not for the children in my school but an independent work I undertook for my own enjoyment. It is from my imagination and may be a bit adult. I must state this because in the past I have done some creations for and with students. This project and the individual images within it are not intended for children. I so enjoy creating and this piece particularly because it is my favourite Greek Myth that I had to let myself go and create. I wanted to express myself without any limitations from others.

 Final

 

This piece is a culmination of the months of work and the assembly of the nine individual images to create this final piece. The only semi new part is the background where I drew the Parthenon temple as a representation of Mount Olympus in the sky.

All the different characters of the Pandora story are present for the final scene. I assembled all the characters and I also made sure that their eyes are all looking on their creation, Pandora. We can see then all from, right to left;

• Hephaestus, created Pandora from clay
• Athena, gave the gift of needlework and weaving
• Hermes (flying), gave the ability to lie and cheat without remorse, to have the nature of a thief
• The Kharties (The Graces) Algeae, Thalia, Euphrosne; they placed gold necklaces upon her and other gifts to make her irresistible to men
• Aphrodite, bestowed upon Pandora the beauty, the mystery of sexual attractiveness and desire and the pain that goes with it
• Zeus, if you look closely Zeus is holding his gift to Pandora. The Jar/Box/Urn with all the evils and plagues of humanity and of course Hope too.

 

I hope you enjoy my depiction of the final image of Pandora: A Gift From The Gods. 

Pandora: A Gift From The Gods

Art Inspiration:The Gift From The Gods; Pandora: Box/Jar/Urn

In my life I have had moments that inspire me to create and wonder about different possibilities. Working with children has always been a catalyst for these moments. On a number of occasions I have provided a drawing or art class for the children and their curiosity has inspired many ideas and creations. Some of these inspirations have produced scenes of me drawing them camping, or as characters from Harry Potter, but the majority of them enjoyed me creating a scene based on the Greek gods. I have posted this work so titled “The Greek Gods, Distraction on Olympus”.

This experience was so enjoyable that I have been thinking of creating another scene from Greek Mythology for some time. In the next few weeks I will be posting the different characters of this scene and a little background info on each one.

I must emphasize that this drawing is not for the children in my school but an independent work I undertook for my own enjoyment. It is from my imagination and may be a bit adult.

 

Jar/Box/ Urn

 

What would the story of Pandora be without the box? The interesting thing is that the original story of Pandora did not have a box but a storage jar or pithos. In the jar held all the evils or evil spirits of the world as well as one other thing. The jar was given to Pandora and her husband Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus.

Where Prometheus’s name meant ‘forethought’ Epimetheus meant ‘afterthought’. Prometheus warns his bother not to accept the gift of Pandora because he can fore-see trouble, but Epimetheus does not heed his bother’s warning.  She carries with her a jar, a gift to them from Zeus, yet she is told not to open it. Of course when someone is told not to do something they inevitably do that thing. She opens the lid and releases the evils and plagues onto the earth, but holds back hope that is still in the control of humans.

I drew the jar as a Greek urn with two handles. On it I drew the usual patterns around the urn but I added an eagle to the top centre of the neck of the urn to represent Zeus. Zeus is commonly portrayed as an eagle and so I wanted to show his influence. On the centre I redrew Pandora in her similar stance as I drew her but with her eyes closed. If you did not notice the eagle, I made sure you noticed the Zeus influence with the twin lightning bolts flanking the image of Pandora. In the final rendering this urn/jar will be place in it in a prominent place, but you will have to wait and see where it is.

In the mean time I hope you enjoy my depiction of Pandora’s Box/Jar/Urn, from The Gift From The Gods; Pandora. 

Pandora’s Box/Jar/Urn