{"id":478,"date":"2015-01-11T16:27:29","date_gmt":"2015-01-11T16:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/?p=478"},"modified":"2017-02-15T10:08:25","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T10:08:25","slug":"feather-art-chris-maynard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/feather-art-chris-maynard\/","title":{"rendered":"Feather Art by Chris Maynard"},"content":{"rendered":"

The intricacy and attention to detail displayed in Chris Maynard\u2019s feather art is testament to an artist that has been using the unusual medium since he was 12 years old. With eye surgery scissors, forceps and magnifying glasses, Maynard produces some truly incredible scenes using only the feathers of birds. The images the Olympia, Washington-based artist creates usually depict the source of his medium \u2013 flocks of swans, displaying peacocks and a raffle of turkeys \u2013 from feathers donated by aviaries and zoos.<\/p>\n

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\"Circle
Circle Park Pigeons by Chris Maynard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maynard carefully cuts and positions the feathers to make shadow boxes of unique, intricate beauty and impressive precision. The artist sees feathers as the pinnacle of nature\u2019s achievement, making flight possible while providing insulation and displaying wonderful colours and patterns.<\/p>\n

\u2018What has kept me focused is having a mission statement at the outset,\u2019 says Maynard, \u2018everything revolves around that.\u2019 The artist, who has a strong background in biology set his mission \u2018For people to stop in their busy lives and be present to a bit of wonder of the natural world; to honour the natural world\u2019 and attributes this to a focus which has helped him become successful in the art world with some of his pieces fetching up to \u00a31,200.<\/p>\n

\"Circle-of-Flight-wm\"<\/p>\n

In terms of promotion, Maynard sees himself existing in a very different environment as the world his mother, also an artist, lived in during her successful career: \u2018She relied on her main gallery for many sales and promotions. She also taught art classes and was active in several artist societies which helped her with contacts and direct sales. She submitted to jury shows and was a juror herself. That’s about it,\u2019 says Maynard. \u2018The world is so different for me. I am represented by a well-known, and respected old gallery for a few sales. But this is mostly to stay connected to that part of the art world and have the respect of being in a gallery like that. However, by far, the bulk of my sales are online and worldwide.\u2019<\/p>\n

Maynard\u2019s advice to up-and-coming artists is to build up confidence in clearly putting across the ideas behind works: \u2018Learn to communicate effectively about what you do and why you do it \u2013 both in writing and in voice. Gather a support group of friends, other artists, join a toastmasters group. Start with short one minute and five minute talks about your art and expand on that.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Arisa'sWedding-wm\"<\/p>\n

When it comes to gaining success and financial stability from art as a business, Maynard also has some pertinent advice: \u2018Learn\u00a0at least a rudimentary understanding of all aspects of your art as a business; book keeping and taxes, marketing, production, tracking inventory and supplies, shipping, printing, etc.\u00a0 Also find several ways for income, not just originals. I get income from a book, speaking engagements (where I sell art and books), prints, licensing images for books, magazines, logos, fabric, and such; as well as selling original art.\u2019<\/p>\n

Maynard’s book Feathers, Form and Function <\/em>presents his art alongside a scientific and cultural exploration of feathers and what they mean. Maynard is clearly someone who cares very much about what he is doing and is passionate about getting across his ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The intricacy and attention to detail displayed in Chris Maynard\u2019s feather art is testament to an artist that has been using the unusual medium since he was 12 years old. With eye surgery scissors, forceps and magnifying glasses, Maynard produces some truly incredible scenes using only the feathers of birds. The images the Olympia, Washington-based […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-featured-artists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2436,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions\/2436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zippi.co.uk\/thestudio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}