Helen Elizabeth Martins …
Nieu Bethesda started, like many little towns, with the establishment of a Dutch Reformed Church in the late 1800’s. It was a very Afrikaans settlement, nestled in the Sneeuberg mountains, 7.5 hours / 50 km’s from Graaff-Reniet.
It was into this community that Helen was born. She was one of ten children, but grew up in a family of four. In the early 1900’s infant deaths were common place in the Karoo, miles from the hospital and doctors of Graaff-Reniet. After studying at the teaching college, in GR she went teaching in Wakkerstroom . Here she met and married Willem Pienaar. Their marriage lasted until 1926 and, together with teaching, took her and on the road doing amateur theatre. She returned to Nieu Bethesda in 1931 to look after her ailing parents. Her mother died in 1941 and her father followed in 1945.
Helen found life in NB very hard and it was after the death of her parents that Helen began to change and add to the house. “Dying isn’t the problem …. living is.” HM. And so she began to transform her world with outside art in The Camel Yard and inside her home with glass grindings and paint.
The interior of her home is alive with color bringing light into her life. She ground glass through a coffee mill and fixed this to the interior walls using varnish and paints. Transforming her grey life into a theater of color. The glass grindings reflected the light in the house and the colorful paint she used, brightened up the interior. Many sun’s adorn the windows and ceiling and she used many shaped mirrors to reflect the colors. The eye catching front window is decorated as a giant sun bringing the vibrant yellow / orange into her home.
The exterior of the Owl House is known as The Camel Yard. It is 32 m2 (this includes the house) and it is filled with figurines and statues created from glass, cement and wire mesh. HM stuck with various themes throughout the Camel Yard. Many religious symbols can be seen in the works. There are small churches, pilgrims, camels and sheep all facing a sign on the fence saying “East”. There is also a nativity scene with Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus in a green glass covered shrine. In amongst these are sphinxes and pyramids, owls and mermaids and buddha’s and sun worshippers. This was her canvas showing the art and ideas she created and wished to leave behind.
To help her with her art works she employed local craftsmen. One of her helpers became her lover for years, and it believed that the death of Johannes Hattingh in 1963 broke her heart and added to the pain she found in the world.
In 1976 at the age of 78 HM took her own life by drinking caustic soda. The poison took its time to work and she died three days later in the GR hospital. Her ashes were thrown over the Camel Yard.
I have visited the Owl house numerous times and each time leave a little more saddened. Thank goodness times have changed and NB is now a place that encourages artists and entrepreneurs to explore their uniqueness and openly flaunt it. Hayley
NB – Nieu Bethesda
HM – Helen Martins
GR – Graaff-Reniet
Info taken from various sources including Helen Martins – A Villagers perspective
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