While Houseago's bronze sculptures habitually take one of three tones—a white, a black, or a golden raw bronze—Standing Owl I has been patinated green in tribute to David Smith's Personage of May (1957), also on view on Storm King's Museum Hill.

A group of works reference the animal world in As I Went Out One Morning, demonstrating an interest of Houseago's that originated in his move to Los Angeles in 2003, which he describes as “a very elemental place.” In Los Angeles, highly industrialized, urban landscapes abut raw wilderness environments, and the perils of everyday life include wildfires and home invasions by animals. At Storm King, Standing Owl I takes its place within a patch of woods, a witness to its surroundings.