The Raven's Caw

I get asked quite often if Yow is my real name, and what’s with the exclamation point? Well, the answer to the first part of the question is yes. Yow was my father’s name and his father before him. I took a lot of kidding during my grade-school years, with taunts like “Yow-hoo” and “How now brown Yow.” Only after I grew up and accepted my artist status in the world did I come to appreciate just how advantageous it might be to have a memorable name, which brings me to the second part of the question.

One day, almost thirty years ago, as I was reading the dictionary, which I still do for fun and enlightenment, I came across my last name. It was defined as an interjection used to express alarm, pain, or surprise. As a surrealist artist, I was used to those same reactions to my art. Perhaps not the “pain,” but certainly alarm and surprise. I immediately added an exclamation point and haven’t looked back. It’s been great. People definitely remember it. It starts a lot of conversations. I might add that Burnell is my middle name. I began using it instead of my first name, Michael, around the same time and for much the same reason: It was more memorable. Burnell and Yow, by the way, were derived from the Old English and mean bubbling brook and a residence by a river, respectively. One can only guess if that means I’m all wet or was born to go with the flow. I’d like to think the latter.