A late-night encounter with an owl a few years ago changed Clare Crespo’s life. A great horned owl had made a nest near her Silver Lake, Los Angeles home, and Crespo became absorbed observing the creature's comings and goings, its babies and its absorbing torch-like eyes.
'I realised this owl had become a non-human teacher for me,' Crespo, a multidisciplinary artist who's created everything from life-size dioramas to plush mascots, tells Wallpaper*.
Her distanced bond with the bird eventually led to a series of ceramic owl sculptures and candelabras. The most recent fruit of Crespo's fascination with the animal kingdom is a children's book about a girl infatuated by the idea of glowing at night. 'Animals can make us quiet or even scare us they make us tune into other systems here on earth,' she says.
The book, Oralee: A Field Guide to a Young Human Who Learns to Glow in the Dark, traces the journey of its titular character as she dabbles between the demands of human life and the Earth’s rhythm in nature. Frustrated by the physical and societal limits of her home, Oralee feels enchanted when the nocturnal universe appears from the shadows. 'It felt like her room came alive when the other rooms went dark and vice versa,' Crespo writes about Oralee in the 64-page book. 'Her clock was different, and it made her feel lonely. But she understood nighttime.'
So did Crespo: the artist found herself making watercolours about after-hours critters and soon realised she was headed towards a form of storytelling. 'Maybe there is a fairy tale to explore here,' Crespo remembers thinking. Throughout the book, Oralee is carried by a massive owl and eventually transforms into a bird herself.
The vibrant lucidity of Crespo's watercolour drawings perfectly suits the artist’s intention to convey transformation and malleability. Ethereal yet sharp, the book’s illustrations effortlessly embody alert raptors, lush plants and Oralee herself. The impact partially stems from Crespo’s decision to use glow-in-the-dark paint on black paper. 'I could submerge myself into the headspace of story,' she says about her material and palette. 'There is a ghostly layer in the images.'
A self-described fantasist, the artist finds her strength in keeping one foot in daydreams while remaining alert to prevalent realities, especially the environmental collapse. 'I call myself a fantasist because I like to lift the curtain or open a tiny door to another world and forms of thinking,' she adds.
Oralee: A Field Guide to a Young Human Who Learns to Glow in the Dark is available from Hat & Beard Press. You can catch Crespo at a book signing at John Derian on 16 April 2026 at 6 E 2nd St, New York, NY.
