The Owl People of Terranova by Evelyn Albrow

Evelyn Albrow drew inspiration for this vessel from a variety of sources, including well-known works of art, current events, and personal experiences.

Evelyn looked at Leonora Carrington’s hybrid figures and Frida Kahlo’s painting ‘My Parents and I’ and thought about the power of the matrilineal line and the way alternative families nowadays are chosen.

There’s also a reference to Walter Crane’s print, ‘The Triumph of Labour’ (1891), that Evelyn had seen at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow; she called it “joyful” and used it as inspiration for the woman playing the tambourine and the small girl.

As the King’s Coronation was in progress, Evelyn incorporated his golden carriage between the legs of a hairy giantess.

The running owl was inspired by a dream and by a recent bursary Evelyn had received in April 2024 to create a huge puppet with puppeteers; she believes the experience has influenced a lot of the uncanny puppet-like creatures that are seen in this series of work.

The rose tree with legs was inspired by the 1940s story “The Table that Ran Away to the Woods” by Stefan and Franciszka Themerson, who were leading Polish avant-garde artists and filmmakers in the 1930s; the writing table finds shoes and dances back to nature.

Stoneware vessel

71H x 34W cm

2024