Athena and the Owl
Posted on October 2, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 25 Comments
There’s a local business called Bears Mill that had its autumn open house this weekend, and so we and some friends went. Among the things there: a small art show by an Ohio artist named Gary Hovey, who makes sculpture out of flatware. One of the sculptures was an owl; naturally we had to pose Athena in front of it. Here’s another picture of the sculpture (sans daughter) and a gallery of the artist’s other work. He must go through a lot of spoons in a year.
How was your weekend?
::gasp:: Could it be?
…And her name is “Athena”…
My weekend was hot…
29C (~85F), hottest day of the year around here (SE UK) Let’s just say, damn unusual for this time of the year.
Ha, @N. K Jemisin, that was the first thing I thought of, too!
That owl is epic. I can imagine it on my mantle piece (also imaginary).
Aw, I loved going to Bears Mill as a kid. And Athena looks perfect with her owl. But I want to know about that painting in the background!
My weekend has mainly consisted of cat-waxing, of which this is some.
and the owl’s name is Bubo?
Let’s see the weekend has been cold and raining around here. That is a hell of a nice owl sculpture though.
Cool sculpture. Cool and sunny in Durham, NC. Perfect weather for watching the dogs play in the yard.
My brain went the same place as N K, Brian, and Bill.
My weekend has been good. Thank you for asking.
Seriously cool sculpture, man!
My weekend was awesome! Friday my wife taught one of the best yoga classes ever and I DJ’d my best set ever. Saturday I chillzed to the max playing Fallout Sierra Madre then we had dinner with some friends who recently adopted the cutest little guy ever named Jackson. Today I spent the better part of with my wife as the child was off at a sleepover. And I have spent the afternoon writing and playing more Fallout.
Possibly one of those weekends I wish I could bottle up and sip on at leisure later.
I’d like the picture better if it was announcing Athena being cast in another remake of Clash Of The Titans which was my first thought.
Just out of curiosity (and not to offend or stir up trouble) was permission granted for the photo? I’ve been asked by artists not to take photographs of their work. I know not all artists are particular about this particular issue. But… I was at an art festival recently and one artist – a photographer – had a sign asking people not to take photos of his photos. He also had signs with the image of a camera with a red circle and line through the camera. I found this interesting. It was at the same festival I was asked not to photograph (another) artist’s work.
The artist wasn’t there, there was no sign asking not to photograph and no one stopped me from taking the photo.
Thank you for answering and not hitting me. :)
It’s a complicated issue for me.
N.K. Jemisin: Athena’s name, and the source thereof, is probably what Mr. Scalzi had in mind when he posed her by the owl.
:-)
My weekend’s been crazybusy. I have a craft show coming up next weekend (tlbctx.org), and I’m trying to finish up the stuff I’m going to sell. Anyone in the far north Houston area who sees this post, please come by!
I think it’s actually starting to cool off around here (despite the near-drought conditions); I’m finally able to wear jeans (instead of dresses/skirts) without sweating.
I sent the link to the artist’s gallery to one of the people at work. He teaches sculpture classes, and one project he has his students do is make something interesting out of a bin of plastic cutlery. Nothing on the scale of that owl, of course, but the students do come out with some amazing things!
I’m hoping the cold won’t rot my zucchini. It’s been a really bad summer for gardens, here (cold and wet), and they’ve only _just_ started to produce. One has over two dozen little baby zucchinis on it waiting for the right weather… (and no frost!)
Very cool artwork.
I worked all weekend, thanks for asking. Everything went smoothly, so no real complaints. And the weather was lovely.
One of the reasons artists do not like you to take pictures of their art, paintings, photographs, etc could be that with a little bit of work with Photoshop you would have your very own copy.
My weekend was rainy and cool and dang nab it the Steelers lost again
Quoth Bill McClusky<and the owl’s name is Bubo?
The owl’s name is certainly Pallas Athen[ae], because it is the font of all wisdom.
John, Athena: thank you both for a beautiful reminder!
Looking at all the bent spoons in his sculpture, the immediate question is, does he bend them with the power of his mind?
Nice spoons.
My weekend was mixed – rough day surfing (but better than sitting at home), then a whole bunch of family stuff and chores.
Could have been worse I suppose…
Glad yours was fun!
Hi, John. Gary Hovey here, the artist at Bear’s Mill. Thank you for the mention on your blog, I always like to see that my artwork brings people joy. The art being shown at Bear’s Mill is actually a two artist show, with my son and I. David, my son, does oil paintings while I do the sculptures.
@Angelle, The painting in the background is my son’s, and you can see his artwork on his website, http://www.davidroberthovey.com.
@tim eisele, I do bend the spoons with my mind. My mind tells my hands to bend the spoons.
@Bill-in-DC, I welcome photographs of my work, it shows that people like my stuff. Plus, it’s free advertising!
Thanks again, John, glad you liked the work!
Gary:
Tell David that my daughter, as a fan of Left 4 Dead 2, especially enjoyed his zombie fighter painting.
It took me a couple of read-throughs of the entry to get why Athena had to pose with the owl. Why yes, I am hanging my head in shame.
My weekend was pretty good. And I finally got some pictures of *my* daughter over at https://picasaweb.google.com/108920486901433844114/AVeryRosieSeptember which was good. I originally tried to post them on flickr but twice the flickr uploader utterly failed to make the upload. No progress at all. That was annoying.
We also went for a nice hike in the foothills of the mountains here in New Mexico. The West side of the mountains though, not the East side, which is where I understand the pumpkins hang out most of the year.