Every winter, thousands of bird artworks from across the world flock to this small city.
Since 2003, the International Owl Center has hosted its children’s art competition in Houston, Minnesota. It started as a way for local kids to celebrate a hatch-day party for an owl at the center, inviting young artists to submit finished coloring pages.
Twenty-some years later, anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 entries come in from 30 to 50 countries for its International Festival of Owls, Executive Director Karla Bloem says. It’s unlike any event in the country, she says.
“It wound up taking on a life of its own,” says Bloem, crediting the internet as well as a prize for art received from the furthest away. “It’s indescribable to see.”
- The who: children from birth to age 18, from just down the street or from Indonesia or Australia, send in their art every year.
- The what: handmade, 2D art of an owl, with no help from adults or artificial intelligence.
- The why: teaching people about owls, raising money for a new center, and promoting tourism toward the end of winter.
A local artist panel judges the submissions on technique, composition, and emotion. All the entries are kept and displayed at the International Owl Center, local galleries, museums, and history centers. Some are even featured on streetlamp banners in town, year-round.
KARLA BLOEM, INTERNATIONAL OWL CENTER“We’re catching people who were not coming to look at art that just become fascinated with the art because you see different cultural styles, all different kinds of media options, realistic, fanciful, some have messages in them . . . It’s just everything, all over the board.”
During the festival, storefronts show off the art; the center sells images on greetings cards and t-shirts; others auction upwards of $1,000 with proceeds going towards groups like UNICEF Ukraine.
“These kids have put so much effort into it,” Bloem says. “You can see a bunch of it on our social media, but it is so much more beautiful to see in person than a digital version online.”
Mckinley Knights entered the competition armed with bright colored pencils. The 10-year-old’s bedroom in Trempealeau, Wisconsin, is complete with a hand painted mural with a snowy owl—she’s a lover of birds, sharing how owls have great hearing and eyesight and make no noise when they fly.
“I’ve drawn a lot of owls, but I like owls, so it was kind of easy,” she says, adding she drew a barred owl for the competition. “My owl was blue, purple, and pink. So like, it took a while because I was like putting them in slots together. It was like mixed up with like all the cold colors and then my background was the warm colors.”
Throughout the festival, which runs for one weekend in March, Houston second graders perform an aptly themed owl song together. People can build owl nest boxes and create crafts. There are art vendors (the nocturnal birds of prey offer heavy inspiration.)
There’s even an owl calling contest, which Mckinley proudly participated in, amid plenty of educational programming and live bird demonstrations.
And nodding to its quiet beginnings, there’s also a birthday cake for that same great horned owl who’s now retired from the center. Happy hatch day, Alice!