Within The Spirit: The White Owl Calls

How do I describe my fascination for the soul called Helen Martins and her (like mine) loneliness of a love gone and a life alone and the reclusiveness that blossomed into a work of art? I can but only write in words of art how I see her adventure of life.

Helen's first assistant Jonas Adams did the first owls and mermaids in the Camel yard with the second assistant, Piet van der Merwe, helping Helen build churches, tables, statues and together they perfected the technique of coating walls, ceilings, even furniture with ground glass. Koos Malgas also an assistant worked with Helen for 12 years until her death; he was one of the people that that loved listening to her as she described to him as what to do and just had the knack of doing it right. After many years alone Johannes Hattingh came into her lfe. He was her lover, friend and confident for over 20 years and had a huge influence on the structural changes in the Owl house, for instance the big colourful windows.

She was influenced by the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, William Blake, and the Bible.

Such is the inspiration her journey instilled in me from a very early age (I was about 6 years of age at the time 1949); when visiting my ‘Ouma and Papa’s farm house, I would just sit at her feet listening to her talk to my Late Mother and Father; and for this I can only thank her for she too saw in me something that I kept hidden.

Hellen Martins Born 23 December 1897 - Died 8 August 1976