Artist 341
Helen Martins
The Owl House
Cement and glass sculptures
Helen Martins (born 1897-1976) was a South African artist who transformed her childhood home into a work of art. She specialized in cement sculptures. Working together with a fellow local Koos Malgas. The two became artists together creating sculptures out of cement and different colourful glass. Named by the iconic owls scattered through the space it was dubbed the Owl house. This house is based in a remote Karoo village called Nieu Bethesda.
It’s one of the leading attractions to the small village which is situated just over 50km from Graaff-Reinet, off the N9, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.
There are currently around 1000 residents in Nieu Bethesda, most of whom reside in Pienaarsig.
The house became a national monument in the 1980s. You can walk through the over a hundred year old house and the gardens where you will find sculptures upon sculptures all crafted out of cement and glass. Often like size. Many are of Martins’s favorite creatures, such as mermaids, owls, peacocks, and camels feature as focal points. The garden is known as the Camel Yard.
Martins finished her schooling in Graaff-Reinet with a teaching diploma then married. After seeing parts of the country, Helen left her husband and returned to Nieu Bethesda in 1928 so that she could care for her frail parents.
Her mother passed away in 1941; her father in 1945. Helen’s relationship with her father was troubled and she had moved him into an outside room later named The Lion’s Den, with all its walls painted pitch black. The walls are still painted in their various colours reflecting how Martins lived in the space.
It was only once she was on her own, that she began to transform her home: in a quest to bring wonder, magic and light into her existence. Her passion for and involvement in her work was to the detriment of her own health, which is believed to have contributed to her increased reticence to being seen in public.
Around this time, Helen Martins employed sheepshearer and builder Koos Malgas. Koos quickly developed technical skills and perfected process of manufacturing cement and glass sculptures.
Every sculpture would be discussed beforehand, usually over early morning coffee in the kitchen, together engineering each new inspiration into being.
This process developed into a uniquely symbiotic creative relationship that clearly defines Koos’ integral part in the creation of the Owl House.
Over time Martins was crippled by arthritis and suffering increased loss of vision – the latter possibly damage caused through her working with ground glass.
Helen took her own life by drinking a mixture containing caustic soda. Her fear of being separated from her beloved Owl House was so great that she would rather end her life than be removed to live elsewhere. Martins passed away in 1976.Koos Malgas continued to work in Owl house and passed away in early 2000.
My mom took me to see Owl house as a child whilst on a road trip travelling the Karoo. Walking through their legacy I was in awe of the space they had created. I was spellbound by the different archways and dresses of glass. The way the light sparkles through the various mirrors and glass filled the air with a playful shimmer.
Just like when you speak - there’s meaning in what you make and the more you speak it or in this case create the louder the message becomes.
Koos Malgas and Helen Martins have created a symphony of artworks that sing long after their creators have left us. There’s a power to creating and the idea that something that began over 80 years ago today in a tiny Karoo town is celebrated and cherished is a beautiful reality.
Here is a link to the virtual tour of the Owl house;
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