owl and mirror

I built an owl today; from the Owl Puzzle that I bought yesterday. I spray painted a different color on each side of the 4 sheets of balsa wood before I popped the pieces out. The construction was a little more complicated than I expected; mostly because the instructions, diagrams, and photo were vague.

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
PLEASE READ THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY
1. First, carefully push out each piece from the wood board.
2. Before assembly, use the enclosed sandpaper to smooth all rough edges.
3. Get [sic] general idea of where each part goes by referring to the front photograph and the diagram below.
4. Put all parts together by following the right order of numbers shown on the diagram. Join pices by interlocking the exact two areas together that have the same number (1 to 1, 2 to 2, 3 to 3, and so on).
5. Glue can be used to assemble kit permanently. Glue is not included.
6. Before or after assembly, stain, varnish or paint can be applied on the wood according to personal choice in color and design.
7. String included for sails. After assembly of boat, lace string through holes noted by number in black circle (give example of number in black circle) on diagram on the right. Start with #1 and lace to #2 then to #3 and so forth. [evidently step 7 is an unedited step for a sail boat puzzle, and is included here by mistake]

With instructional issues aside, the owl has been made. For me, he is a magical owl. Flat pieces of wood that existed only as abstract shapes in the wood boards have been transformed into detailed feathers and body forms. The magic here is three-fold.
Working on this I understand the puzzle in a variety of ways: artistically, as a brainteaser, and as a playful child-like fascination with objects and games (similar to Legos). The latter is a quality of mine that I hopefully will never loose. I often feel like I am my current age (26) and 12 simultaneously. So on one level this puzzle is a game, and fun!
Secondly, through art, the owl addresses culture within it's mystical transformation from raw materials (cheep wood and spray paint) into a signifying object.
In the owl's last move he references a personal history. When I was in Boy Scouts I could sometimes hear owls calling to each other late at night. This only happened when our troop was camping deep in a scout reservation, well away from buildings and lights. Through seclusion and unfamiliarity these places were already mystical in their own right. The owl seemed to be an invisible watcher-protector of the forest. The following is a description of the Barred Owl (Strix varia), the most common owl in Illinois.

"Voice: A loud, barking hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo-hooo-aw!; a variety of other barking calls and screams.
...
This owl is seen only by those who seek it out in its dark retreat, usually thick grove of trees in lowland forest. There it rests quietly during the day, coming out at night to feet on rodents, birds, frogs, and crayfish. If disturbed, it will fly easily from one grove of trees to another."
-John Bull and John Farrand, Jr. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1977. 634-635.

I placed the mirror behind the owl to show his back. This move has led me to some other questions about mirrors that I have been thinking of in other pieces. The following poem speaks to some of my interest in mirrors and mirroring effects as well as the sound of owls communicating across a forest.

Kenneht Koch
Aesthetics of Echo

Echo was............................Us
A nymph who lived in.........Din
Every Cliff..........................If

Owl (cardboard, wood, hot glue, acrylic, spray paint, glitter, sharpie, plastic rhinestones) 65" x 6" x 6" 2008

Some other work with/about owls from my image library:

Joseph Cornell - Untitled (Lighted Owl) (assemblage) c. 1949

Brian Kapernekas - Owl (mortar, pigment, straw, horsehair, twine, wood and nails) 2007

Gabriel Orozco - Owl (photograph) 1993

Roni Horn - Dead Owl (2 iris printed photographs) 1998

Ashley Morgan - Collar Bones (bones from owl pellets and glue)