Giant feather sculptures excude a fragile beauty

Artist Kate MccGwire creates stunning sculptures using only feathers

Artist Kate MccGwire creates stunning sculptures using only feathers

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.

Feather sculptures

Feather sculptures

Feather sculptures

Feather sculptures

Feather sculptures

Feather sculptures

Feather sculptures

Feather sculptures

Feather sculptures

Feather sculptures

See more of MccGwire's work at her website.

Liked this? Read these!

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

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Ecommerce Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Editor, Digital Art and 3D Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson and Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The 3D World and ImagineFX magazine teams also pitch in, ensuring that content from 3D World and ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq.