The Screaming Heads – A unique art exhibit in the Almaguin Highlands

December 2019

Artists are always looking for unique way to display their art and Almaguin Highlands artist Peter Camani seems to have found a very unique way to display his sculpture work titled, “The Screaming Heads.”

Camani, a retired art teacher who has art works hanging in The Vatican and Buckingham Palace, used his property near Burk’s Falls, Ontario, to display hundreds of cast-concrete sculptures in the shape of heads with mouths open wide as if screaming, some that are a few feet high, but most as high as 20 feet, scattered around the 310 acre property.

Camani’s home, named Midlothian Castle, has been partially done up as a medieval castle and is also part of the art exhibit. It also doubles as Camani’s art studio.

Inspired by druids and ancient Briton, the heads, the tree-shaped sculptures scattered in a forest and Midlothian Castle itself, with various sculptures that include a giant head, a two headed fire-breathing dragon, a warrior princess, and a thick concrete wall surrounding it, make up an art display that is both intriguing and frightening.

The frightening aspect is aided by the eerie screams of the many peacocks that live on the property.

Visitors are invited to enter the “display area” by walking through the decorated iron gates, rimmed by a concrete arch beside Midlothian Castle.

After passing through the “castle grounds,” go through the iron gates in the shape of a spider web, complete with iron spiders climbing along the bars, and follow the walking paths that guide you to the concrete Screaming Heads.

The Midlothian Castle grounds is also the site of Home of Harvest Festival.

Sources: https://explorersedge.ca/the-screaming-heads-north-of-muskoka, https://harvestfestival.org/location/midlothian-castle, https://www.blogto.com/sports_play/2018/09/screaming-heads-midlothian-castle-ontario, https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/midlothian-castle