Feathers: Form & Function

Chris Maynard’s book, Feathers, Form and Function: what feathers are, how they work, and why we find them alluring offers a quality tabletop book of his art with insight into how feathers grow, how they evolved, what they are made of, and what they do for the birds. He explores how feathers have given humans meaning for millennium.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a bird in flight? What would it feel like to have feathers that could carry you anywhere you wished?

In Feathers, Form, and Function, you’ll find insight into these questions and new ways of seeing through an artist, a biologist’s, a philosopher, and a bird’s eyes. With a small scalpel for a tool, artist Chris Maynard carves bird themes out of feathers. Each design highlights the feathers’ beauty and forms and calls attention to topics important to us such as flight, hope, and transformation. With a creative sense of design and a bit of humor, the artist offers a sense of the lives and movements of the birds he portrays.

“The link between bird and mind is what animates this new book.”

— Orion Magazine