Giant feather sculptures excude a fragile beauty

Artist Kate MccGwire 'gathers, collates, re-uses, layers, peels, burns, reveals, locates, questions, duplicates, plays and photographs'. It sounds like a lot of effort, but the end results are certainly worth it. Creating huge, imposing structures from a fragile medium such as feathers makes her work stand out as truly unique.

"There are certainly drawbacks with the medium," MccGwire admits. "They are fragile but if cared for correctly I can make the most of their intrinsic beauty, but if I don’t wrap a piece correctly or if someone were to ruffle the feathers it can take time to mend them - usually this can be done with stroking and preening but occasionally a section of feathers may have to be replaced."

"I suppose that means it is actually quite forgiving as an overall piece but it does involve quite a bit of time and normally with an installation that can be limited." Take a look at some of her pieces and marvel at their strange and wonderful beauty.

See more of MccGwire's work at her website.

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Have you seen any inspiring sculptures? Let us know in the comments box below!