On Bank Holiday Monday this week, I decided to see one last sculpture trail during the washout Bank Holiday weekend. Currently, Minerva's Owls are located in and around one of my favourite cities in England: Bath, Somerset. The 80+ owl sculptures have been painted and decorated by local artists to raise money for various Bath charities. A couple of the owls have been painted by street artists ATM, Inkie, and Cheba. The trail is currently in full swing until the 10th of September. I did not get to see all of the sculptures as there are just too many to see in a day with poor weather, and some of them were shut up inside shops and businesses that had closed for the Bank Holiday.
Minerva's Night Owl - Rebecca Collett
Minerva's Owls are a throwback to the Roman roots of Bath, which was named after the Roman baths there that date to 1AD. Minerva (also known as Athena) was a goddess of wisedom. Her "mascot" was the owl, so this is why Bath has owls.
Athene Noctua - ATM
This is the third sculpture trail in Bath. The first one was in 2008, and it was "King Bladud's Pigs of Bath", which held a few months after I moved out of the area. However, I did see a couple of the pigs on a visit that year, but I do not have any photographs. The next trail was lions in 2010, and I previously covered those here: Spot the Lions in Bath Using Mobile Barcode Technology. This is the first trail since the lions. I've included photographs of some of the owls I saw below.
Bird of Play - Complete Control
Some of the sculptures were interactive. The 'Bird of Play' above had a kaeledescope in its eye that you could adjust and that turned the surroundings into a colourful kaeledescope.
Night Owl - Natasha Rampley
Minerva - Emma Rose
Trigiformes - Sue Guthrie
Cornucopi-owl - Richard Twose
Swirly Whirly - Lisa Todd
Brian - Nyamachomastapeace
Kintsugi - Genesis Trust
Beaky - Oriana Viall & Sammie Palmer
Speculo - Bath Aqua Glass
The Wise Renewab-owl - Chloe Honore
Tyrell - EPOK
Inkie Hoots - Inkie
If you have missed the trail after September 10, you can still see the owls in one place in Bath at the end of September before they are all auctioned off for charity.
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