eventREF E-0011177Revised
Event record
SA artist Helen Martins is born
- Date
- 23 Dec 1897
- Updated
- 4 Dec 2019
Helen Elizabeth Martins, artist known for her queer sculptures at the Owl House in the Karoo village of Nieu Bethesda, was born in Nieu Bethesda in the Eastern Cape. She was born in the same house in which she committed suicide, the house she named "The Owl House". At the age of fifty, when her husband died, she stopped going to church. She began to create a series of extraordinary eccentric creatures of wire, cement, and cut glass. It included owls, camels, wise men, women, and children walking on the road to Mecca. Her artwork, once an object of derision and embarrassment, has become the single most important asset of the village of Nieu Bethesda.
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How we know this
- 01Verwey, E.J. (ed)(1995). New Dictionary of South African Biography, v.1 , Pretoria: HSRC.
- 02Neurodiversity, (2006), Helen Martins, Artist, from Neurodiversity, 21 February [online], Available at www.neurodiversity.com [Accessed: 27 November 2013]
- 03https://www.owlhouse.co.za/index.html (image source; site not yet live)
Last updated · 4 Dec 2019
South African History Online. (2011, March 16). SA artist Helen Martins is born. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011177
South African History Online (2011) 'SA artist Helen Martins is born', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011177 (Accessed: 10 August 2026).
South African History Online, SA artist Helen Martins is born [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011177, (accessed 10 August 2026).
"SA artist Helen Martins is born." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011177. Accessed 10 Aug. 2026.
South African History Online. "SA artist Helen Martins is born." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011177.
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