"Macaw flight." Green-winged and Blue-and-yellow Macaw feathers. Photo: Chris Maynard

Art

The Man Who Reincarnates Feathers

Chris Maynard uses fallen feathers to reveal the true essence of birds.

By Becca CudmoreJuly 29, 2016

When Chris Maynard collects cast-off feathers, it’s a choosy process. “I can’t use feathers from most any bird inmy country, ” he says. No eagles; no seagulls; no songbirds; no crows. Those birds—along with their parts—arehighly protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty and CITES acts. “A lot of artists don’t pay attention to these rules,but they’re quite important to me,” he says.

A former entomologist and hydrology biologist, Maynard switched over to full-time artist in 2008. He’s beenworking with feathers from birds since he was 12-years-old, but began snipping, arranging, and photographingthem in his Olympia, Washington studio just last year. His namesake pieces are carved-out feathers, which arefeatured in his online menagerie, “Featherfolio.” In late 2014, he also published Feathers: Form and Function, abook that serves as an education on evolution of avian flight.

When obtaining the feathers for his art, Maynard usually takes from the likes of zoo parrots, pheasants, petturkeys, and roaming Wild Turkeys. Sometimes, he sources species from local aviaries, such as his neighbor’sAfrican Crowned Cranes. He then cleans the gathered feathers with water and salt. He dries them, and freezesout any lingering mites.

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Choosing the right feather doesn’t just mean looking for colors that pop. “I’m more drawn to texture and size,”Maynard says. Each bird sports an array of feathers that are incredibly diverse: the downy body plumes, thestiff, flat wing quills that are cupped and curved. Some of these feathers act as thermostats, he says, expandingfor insulation, then contracting and squeezing out pockets of heat when temperatures get too warm. In flightlesswater birds like penguins, the vanes of the outer feathers act as a waterproof barrier for the fluff trapped below.

In his Olympia studio, Maynard can often be seen armed with a pair of tweezers or scissors or scalpel, with anold pair of steampunk magnifiers perched on his nose. “My father was an eye surgeon,” he says. “I inherited alot of his tools.” He’s carving away at the weightless form of a wispy plume or a sturdier speckled pheasant tailfeather. “My favorite comes from an absolutely beautiful captive Argus Pheasant—he’s given me molts for 10years,” he says. It’s clear that attention to detail runs in the family: His mother was a professional visual artist aswell.

Maynard’s own homed in vision of the world comes through in his 2015 TEDx Olympia talk. “I explore the worldfrom a very small place with confidence,” he tells the audience. “If we try to engage the whole world at once,details become a blur.” By picking apart something so small, he’s able to form grand ideas that speak to thewhole. In one of his pieces, he presents eight ebony birds made mainly from turkey and parakeet feathers withround, spiraling “speech bubbles” slipping out of their beaks. “I envisioned this piece as sort of a dream sharedby the males as they sing,” Maynard says, referring to lekking birds that sit on cattails to summon their mates.

In his time outside of the studio, Maynard gives talks on evolution, pursues environmental work, and leads fieldtrips with his local Audubon chapter. “He evokes a sense of appreciation for something most of us have taken

"Blackbirds 3." Europeancrow feathers. Photo: ChrisMaynard

"Perchers." Turkey feathers.Photo: Chris Maynard

Turkey assortment. Photo:Chris Maynard

"Crow roost tree." WesternCapercaillie grouse feather.Photo: Chris Maynard

for granted all our lives,” Deb Nickerson, the director of the Black Hills Audubon Society, says -- most of us havenever looked at feathers so close.

They’re often perceived as delicate. But by looking near, Maynard can see that this is obviously not true. Theywere borne out of function and strength, he writes on his blog. They keep the animal cloaked, sheltered, andattractive, and they sustain it in flight. With the help of feathers, birds cross oceans and mountains, reachingaltitudes that are impossible to imagine. Feathers, he writes, are actually quite tough—that’s the story he’slooking to tell.

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"Choices." Red-tailed BlackCockatoo feathers. Photo:Chris Maynard

Impeyan Pheasent feathers.Photo: Chris Maynard

"Headed home." SilverPheasant feather and LewisSilver Pheasant feather.Photo: Chris Maynard

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