Feather Out

The Feather Art of Emily Valentine

• By  mlf2008
• 21 November, 2012
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Life in Australia has provided Emily Valentine with an endless source of beautiful feathers. Assembling them together to form mythical creatures is a unique take on the use of craft feathers. From her first works in the early 2000′s she has always used mixed media , mostly feathers, to express her ideas in a physical form. “Kingfisher Squadron” uses craft feathers gleaned from trapped minah birds to recreate military aircraft. Invasion of foreign species is a common theme in Australian life. This work shows it in its literal and figurative form. Her entire “Squadron” series features craft feathers formed into all types of aircraft. More recently she has trended back to her roots of making animals. “Kittykeet”, pictured above, uses native lorikeet feathers. Fortunately for Emily, Australia boasts a huge population of native hookbill birds as a great source for parrot feathers. In the US such craft feathers can only be obtained commercially or as molt feathers from pets and are very rare.