Painted Feathers provided by K.Lawson, Desert Moon

The art of painting on feathers has survived as one of the finest arts practiced in many countries. Each artist uses different paint and has his or her own tricks to make the miniature picture show to its best advantage on the chosen feather.

Painted feathers are often framed to display all their beauty. Others are worn as a necklace, earring or other kind of jewelry. In more traditional regions painted feathers are still worn as hair ornaments.

Connie´s Painted Feathers

Often the skilled feather painters even copy your favorite picture onto an appropriate feather. Because no feather looks like the other, those special feathers make for unforgettable gifts.

Another artform has become popular in the computer age. Feathers are scanned in or painted directly into a program to get the computer treatment. With the help of painting and animation programs simple feathers can be turned into stunning pixel-masterpieces.

 

Painted Feather provided by Chris Rhodes

Feathers are also great study subjects for painters. While some devote entire exhibitions to the fluffy objects, other have chosen to paint with feathers themselves.

To paint pictures like the impressive bouquet to the left more than 20,000 feathers of all shapes are used by the artist. It took over 2 years to complete this flower bouquet. The feather paintbrush has a life of its own and adds a whole new dimension to the canvas.

Beautiful textiles made out of feathers have been created in Mexico and Peru since 500 B.C. Craftsmen and women can weave hundred of feathers into colorful masterpieces. Nowadays this tradition is celebrating a revival as young artists have again picked up this old tradition.

Textiles from a forthcoming book, "Magic Feathers, Textile Art from Ancient Peru", by James W. Reid

Another form of feather art is the construction of magical feather characters with a heart of clay. They can be formed to resemble animals, fantasy creatures or people. You can even have a feather character made to resemble a creature after your own ideas.

"According to Native American legend, by holding the feather up towards the sky, the bearer was given spiritual guidance when speaking. This special status caused others to fall silent to hear the bearer speak great words of wisdom."

Feathers have also developed into models for the now again modern bead objects. The artist Christina M. Wojcik gives advise on how to make bead feathers on her website at:

http://www.chrystyna-m.com/BeadDancing/Feather.html

Pictures provided by Christina M. Wojcik

Ceremony Pipes, also called Calumets, are prehistoric artifacts used by Native Americans dating back as far as 3,000 years ago. There was a great variety of pipes depending on the tribe and the artist. Peace pipes were adorned with beautiful feathers and other natural objects. In times of war the pipes were used to identify the messenger of a tribe. They were also worn as jewelry at ceremonies and ritual dances; and of course they were doing the round at peace talks.

The war shield was a sacred object to the American Indians and other cultures. The shield was usually made by the warrior himself and was infused with his own magic for protection and good luck. It was used in procedures and ceremonies varying from tribe to tribe and was recognized as the embodiment of the warrior's power. Paint was used to depict personal symbols or to represent the various tribal societies. Other adornments to the shield were natural objects like bones and fur.

"This shield (to the right) is named after the gesture in Tai Chi, the Chinese meditation practice composed of slow and graceful movements inspired by nature. Surprisingly, these dance-like motions can also be applied as martial art." Text by Beth McCormick