Owl’s well with Adriana Romkes
Artist catches our wise friends in natural habitats
Whooo gives a hoot?
Adriana Romkes does. She’s a glaucophile, living and breathing owls.
The Dundas artist fell in love with owls during the summer of 2013. She settled into a 36-foot Park Model Home in a forested park along the Niagara Escarpment.
“It was there, at the end of that summer, that I was visited by a hooting owl, along with wild turkeys, woodpeckers, deer and coyotes,” she tells me. “In fact, I was also living with great horned owls at my winter apartment in the Dundas-Ancaster valley. It was like they were following me.”
She began to build owls in clay that autumn. She observes and photographs them in their natural habitats, but her sculptures are not slavishly lifelike.
Each owl represents an exploration of the subject and the material.
“I find the process of working with clay very therapeutic,” she says. “The creative potential of clayworks is very vast, and the structural, scientific or technical considerations are a great mental challenge.”
Romkes’ owls are to be found in Owls by Adriana, a delightful exhibition at the Carnegie Gallery.
The owls are wonderfully varied: big and small, in flight and at rest, textured and smooth.
People’s fascination with owls has a long history. The ancient Greek goddess Athena, whose roots go back at least 4,000 years, was associated with owls. The owl symbolized her wisdom. That was because owls can see in the dark. Darkness was associated with ignorance. Only the wise can see through darkness.
So it’s not surprising that “Felix the Barn Owl” has gleaming, beady eyes. He’s seated, his spread-out talons a reminder of his predatory nature. Romkes roughs up the feathers on his chest.
The wings consist of strigilated, featherlike patterns that also bear the marks of the creator’s fingers. Romkes balances lifelikeness with a reminder that this is a work of art.
Her brown and creamy striped “Flammulated Owl” is, by contrast, all action. Romkes captures the moment before the climax of the drama. Wings outstretched, eyes down and feet out, it looks ready to land on a victim.
“Now You See Me Owl” also boasts dramatic wings, but is more stylized. The eyes consist of concentric circles. Tiny lines, arranged into varied clusters of feathery shapes, cover the body.
“Raku Snowy Owl” comprises a simplified rounded body and an all-over crackle glaze that draws attention to the clay-making process.
“I have used raku clay for most of my earliest work. I have tried stoneware and now I simply use sculpture clay as I can fire it any way, any temperature.”
“Smooth Snowy Owl” is the most minimalist, a kind of essence of owl. The head is smooth with barely there facial features, and the wings are mere sinuous shapes.
“Owls are quite independent and self-sufficient,” Romkes says. “They are a very ancient unchanged species of raptors that come in many shapes, sizes and forms with different geographic characteristics and personalities. “There is an owl for everyone.” And Romkes will probably see to that. June Lynch is inviting painters, potters, woodworkers and those who make garden art, glass work, metal work, etc. to apply to be part of the Artisan Market on Sunday, Sept. 10, at the Dundas Driving Park. Deadline is Aug. 1. Contact junelynch@gmail.com or at artisanmarketdundas.com.