Silver Taiga’s Owls Will “Fly Over” Syktyvdin District in April

Silver Taiga’s members have gathered a unique collection of souvenir owls made of various materials – wood, bark, bone, clay, glass, beads, wool, and even hay.

The Foundation’s employees brought figurines of this mysterious inhabitant of the Northern taiga from all over the world – from business trips and vacation tours. Silver Taiga’s friends also joined the tradition, and now you do not have to puzzle about what you want to present, when you visit the office again. Now, the Silver Taiga’s collection has around 70 bird figurines made with diverse techniques.

Visitors of the exhibition view the collection

The biggest part of the collection has recently “migrated” to the Finno-Ugric Ethnic Park to be exhibited there. The exhibition is dedicated to the International Bird Day globally celebrated on 1 April.

It was in 2003, when the collection was started. At that time, Olga Proskurina, a Foundation’s employee, brought an owl from Prague, where she had spent her vacation. “When I was walking along the narrow streets, I saw an owl-shaped cushion in the souvenir shop window. Ijustcouldn’tpassbyit. With its spread wings, it reminded of the Foundation’s logo”, Olga recalls. The owl she brought settled o the sofa in the Foundation’s office. Since then, owls have started migrating to Silver Taiga from different corners of the world which have been visited by the staff and partners of the environmental organization.

The logo of the Silver Taiga Foundation promoting sustainable development is the stylized depiction of an owl. The logo of Silver Taiga is a monochrome circular bird symbol represented in the traditional Komi manner known as the Permian animal style. The owl is the symbol of taiga, and it is also associated with wisdom. The image of an owl on the logo supports the Foundation’s slogan – Learning from Nature. The logo is simple and suitable to be used for various types of surface due to its universal character and elegance, absence of minor details and sharpness of the image, which makes it recognizable.

The exhibition in the Finno-Ugric Ethnic Park will last till 14 April 2017, then it will move from Yb to the Syktyvdin Center of Folk Crafts Zaran located in the village of Vylgort. The birds will return to their “nest” by 1 May.

Photos by N. Pautova