Art and Design Commons^™

The New Life Of Feathers, Madison Bradford O'Bagy

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

When a feather is no longer part of a living bird it is, in essence, dead. When I pick it, up it is reborn. My artwork records and constructs these new stories. The story may reflect where and when the feather was found, what I was doing at the time, my thoughts or feelings when I picked it up, or the character found in the feather itself.

To reveal these stories, I paint my three-dimensional feather collection into trompe l'oiel two-dimensional images using watercolors. The qualities of the paint lend themselves beautifully to the loose flowing lines and weightless quality …