The idiosyncratic vision that inspired artist Helen Martins (1897–1976) to turn her home and studio into a singular work of outsider art is the bedrock of Bethesda's bohemian identity. Martins and her assistant Koos Malgas worked for years designing and constructing the menagerie of concrete owls and myriad other figures in the backyard. Nearly every inch of the shadowy interior is covered with colorful painted glass shards, textiles and tchotchkes, recalling the troubled figure who eventually took her own life.
Outside, local craftspeople sell replica owls; they will soon be housed nearby in a new curio shop.
