The Owl House is a museum in Nieu-Bethesda, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is filled with an enormous range of sculptures, multicolored glass interiors, and bright paint, which results from Martin’s desire to bring light and color into her lonely world.
The owner, Helen Martins, turned her house and the surrounding area into a visionary environment, elaborately decorated with ground glass and containing over 300 statues, including owls, camels, peacocks, pyramids, and people. She inherited the house from her parents and began its transformation after they died.
She began creating sculptures of owls, mythical beasts, and sun faces with a laborer, Koos Malgas, and over 12 years transformed her home into a world of hundreds of sculptures, crushed glass walls, and colored windows.
The Owl House has a mystical edge to it, if not entirely creepy, with its strange sculptures and fascinating history. To some, it may be incredibly inspiring. It is a truly original place, and one not easily forgotten.
Credit: Safari guide Africa, Wikipedia, Artsy