FEATHERS

Three Feathers by Wen Redmond. Sewn watercolor and masa papers, acrylics, collaged digital images, monoprinting, inks. See Wen's website here.

Whenever I find a feather I'm taken back in time to my first year of school. We had a large, low, square table in the front of the classroom which was the designated Nature Table. I loved the nature table! It made Monday mornings very exciting because there were always new gatherings after the weekend. Sea shells, porcupine quills, snake skins, birds nests, wasps nests and an abundance of feathers from many different birds ..... most of which were provided by me. The large quill feathers were arranged in an open calabash (gourd). Even now, umpteen years later this calabash flashes through my mind whenever I find a feather.

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Silence Spoken by Lewis Knauss

This piece is by Novie Trump. See Novie's Flickr photo stream here and blog here.

Paper Cuts by Lucy Player. See Lucy's Flickr photo stream here.

the lightness

sweeps through the feathers

lifting my spirits

-Neva Gagliano

Turkey Feathers by Amber Alexander. See Blog here and Etsy shop here.

Jude Hill's beautiful Feathers. See blog post here.

Far by Feather by Louise Richardson. See more here.

Nest IV. Mixed Media: distressed twine, wire mesh, twigs and feathers by Natasha Duwin. Website here.

Library of Babel by Brody Neuenschwander. Website here.

Feather. Metal wall sculpture by Mark Goodier

Starlings in Winter

by Mary Oliver

Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly

they are acrobats
in the freezing wind.
And now, in the theater of air,
they swing over buildings,

dipping and rising;
they float like one stippled star
that opens,
becomes for a moment fragmented,

then closes again;
and you watch
and you try
but you simply can’t imagine

how they do it
with no articulated instruction, no pause,
only the silent confirmation
that they are this notable thing,

this wheel of many parts, that can rise and spin
over and over again,
full of gorgeous life.
Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,

even in the leafless winter,
even in the ashy city.
I am thinking now
of grief, and of getting past it;

I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground,
I feel my heart
pumping hard, I want

to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.

Wing and stone for Morgan. Watercolor by Tim O'Kane. Website here.

Uccelli by Tim O'Kane. Website here.