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A creative raven turns the art world upside down after using her beak to create a stunning array of experimental paintings.
Eleven-year-old Odin uses a range of vibrant animal-friendly paints and food colorings to create her amazing abstract works, which fly out of the shops for up to £15.
Keepers of the Tropical Butterfly House Wildlife Conservation Park in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said they first gave the captive bird an easel about eight years ago.
And after introducing her to several tools over the course of a year, she was able to use a paintbrush to create her incredible works – often mimicking those of the great American artist Jackson Pollock, whose pieces sell for millions.
Custodian Milly Fox, 25, said the “charismatic” bird loved to give the canvas “a good splash” and had an “aggressive” approach to creating her one-of-a-kind paintings.
Odin, an 11-year-old raven, uses her beak to smear clear, animal-safe paint on canvases – which she does in a somewhat “aggressive” way, according to her keepers
Paul Jackson Pollock (pictured) was a painter and an important figure in the abstract expressionist movement – and his works are very similar to those of Odin
She said, “Odin just gives the canvas a good whack with the paintbrush. She loves a good splatter.
“Very occasionally she runs the brush over the canvas. But she is quite aggressive.
“She is definitely one of the most intelligent animals we have in the park.
“She’s often smarter than us in the way she thinks about things and solves the enrichment puzzles we’ve presented to her.”
Born in captivity at the Tropical Butterfly House Wildlife Conservation Park, Odin was introduced to the creative process by her caretakers from the age of three.
And it wasn’t long before she put the brush to the canvas and started creating incredible works of art.
1. Was this color accent created by Raven or Pollock?
2. This green, black and white piece certainly catches the eye – who painted it?
Milly said, ‘It took her less than a year because she’s really, really smart. But it would have been a slow process to begin with.
“As far as I know, as they pick up and paint with the brush, she’s the only bird who’s been able to do that.
“We do some little things where the lemmas run across a canvas and the macaws have done some of those, but not to the level of skill that Odin does.
“She does it on purpose, too, rather than us encouraging her to walk across the canvas.”
Milly said Odin’s most productive period was before the Covid pandemic when she completed several works that were picked up by the general public.
3. Was this masterpiece the work of birds or humans?
4. Was it a hand or a beak that created this work of art?
But she said the avant-garde Raven, who once shared an abode with a vulture, was also a talented mimic who could reproduce the sounds of children’s cries.
Milly said, ‘She’s got a really big personality. She really is a charismatic bird. She copies sounds she hears. Her favorite is the sound of children screaming.
“Her period with the highest turnover was a few years ago. But with Covid and bird flu, she’s doing less these days. We still do a few with her. It occupies her mind.
‘At the moment she is on her own, but she used to live together with a white-backed vulture. Since then he has moved to different collections. She lives alone.’
Milly said Odin’s intelligence shone through in the enrichment puzzles her caretakers put on her – and said many people were shocked by her abilities.
She continued, “If we give her something that requires her to move sliders to get the mealworms out, she’ll put it in her water bowl so they all float to the top.
‘People are often very surprised by her work.
“When we explain that she picks up the brush and takes the paint out and throws it against the canvas, they’re usually quite impressed.”
Studies have shown that ravens, which are part of the Corvidae family, have cognitive abilities that rival the great apes in adulthood.
And other studies suggest they may have similar problem-solving abilities to those of a child under the age of seven.
Sales of Odin’s works are donated to conservation fund projects.
Keeper Milly Fox, 25, said: ‘Odin just gives the canvas a good whack with the paintbrush. She likes a good splatter’
Odin, who has been painting for years, is seen ready to create as she coats her brush with red paint