Some artists choose their medium. For Chris Maynard, the medium chose him — at age twelve, when a single exotic feather arrived in his hands and never really let go.

Growing up in Washington State, Maynard found refuge in the woods near his home, watching birds from beneath the fir and cedar trees. That early attentiveness to the natural world became the foundation of an art practice unlike any other. Today, Maynard carves feathers into intricate compositions — cutting them into detailed shapes, then elevating the cutouts from their backgrounds so they retain their natural curves and cast living shadows beneath them. Each shadow box becomes a scene: birds in flight, in stillness, in community.

The light does the rest. As Maynard describes it, every piece shifts according to the intensity and angle of the light falling on it — meaning no two viewings are quite the same. The North Gallery's intimate scale is a natural fit for this work, which rewards slow, close attention and reveals new detail with every step.

A committed conservationist, Maynard sources all feathers legally and ethically — many naturally shed, gathered from farms, aviaries, and zoos. Feathers from turkeys, parrots, and peacocks find new life in his hands, transformed from something fallen into something airborne again.

Feathered Masterpieces has earned Maynard features in National Geographic, Audubon, Fine Art Connoisseur, and Western Art & Architecture, appearances on PBS's Craft in America and The Discovery Channel, and a TEDx Talk. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the country and internationally.