SILENT SURPRISE Print

Owls, especially those that hunt at night, are able to locate even faint sounds with remarkable accuracy because of their exceptional hearing and sight--and their ability to stealthily attack their prey. The owl was a symbol for Athena, goddess of wisdom and strategy before the Greeks gave their pantheon human forms. According to myth, an owl sat on Athena's blind side, so that she could see the whole truth. In Ancient Greece, the owl was a symbol of higher wisdom, and it was also a guardian of the Acropolis. I was commissioned by the Skidompha Library in Damariscotta, Maine to provide artwork for a calendar the library sold as a fundraiser. This was my submission. The original is now in my wife's (she was the library's executive director at the time of the commission) collection.