Owl c. 1942

This is Hester Duany’s ‘Owl’, and what a wise and solemn creature she's made! Look at the way she’s created texture upon texture: the neat, ordered hatch marks on the body contrast with the roughly carved rock and the sharp, protruding talons. I wonder if Duany knew that owls represent wisdom and knowledge? She’s certainly approached this drawing with focus and a delicate touch. She's another artist in dialogue with the world, seeing and feeling, translating and remaking through observation and experience. In her world of hatch marks and concentrated looking, she shows us how to truly see.