Owls for PPP
(P-pleasure, P-protection, P-playfulness)
Paper pulp, gesso, India ink
Made for the frame over your bedroom door, in various sizes about 3” x 4” x 2”
2020-2021
About the work:
I began making Owls in late 2020 as gifts to provide the 3 P’s to my loved ones. I sent them out over the holidays and new year. In each package, I included the following explanation and clay to make your own version. The next big family is being made now and will be available through Christine Frechard Gallery or directly through me.
An Explanation for the Owl
The only trip I took in 2020 was to visit good friends in Texas in late January . One of the last days there we went on a scheduled sunset cruise at a nearby Nature Preserve, and saw – unexpectedly and miraculously – an owl that flew right next to our open-air van on our way back to the parking lot. It was silent, and enormous. A barred owl. We watched it navigate the closely growing trees. It seemed impossible that it could be so graceful as it seemed to just glide through the air at dusk. That owl has stuck with me all year. It came roaring back when my same Texas friend lost her dad just two months later to complications due to a stroke, during the Covid-era when family was unable to be with the patient. Luckily, two of his sons were there with him when he passed away – but my dear Texas friend, his only daughter, had to experience that removed, remote, from a distance. There still has not been a family funeral service because we cannot all get together safely. My own dad, who died in 2012 right around the New Year, was an Owl guy. That was his animal, his symbol. He had a whole collection and made them himself out of clay while smoking his dark wooden pipe.
As the days became months and the pandemic raged on, I kept thinking about that Texas owl. All of us throughout the whole world. sheltering-in-place in our own homes. These rooms became so much more familiar than they had before. I began to imagine that the Texas owl was watching over us, keeping protection. I saw the Texas owl most prominently on the top of our doorframe. Always there. So that is what I made. I made a collection of owls for your home. For protection, and companionship. To keep watch, to make the room a bit more expansive. I made them to sit on top of your doorframe, or windowframe – but they can go anywhere. The idea is that now they are with you. They are yours to move about. I wouldn’t be surprised if every month or so they’d ask you to move to another room.
These owls are made of recycled newspaper, regular flour, and water. Then painted with a bit of gesso and India ink. How these simple ingredients combine to make something that resembles stone is a bit of a mystery to me! I hope they bring you some pleasure and protection and playfulness. All the things I wish for all of us throughout the new year.
With love,
Jenn