American singer-songwriter and TV personality Katy Perry takes advantage of “American Idol’s” Disney Night to dress up as Cinderella on May 12, 2024 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Eric McCandless/ABC)

North Korean traffic police women chat next to a residential building while off duty Tuesday, October 18, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

A Raramuris indigenous woman takes part in the “Ultra maraton de los Canones 2017” (Ultra marathon of the Canyons), at La Sinforosa Canyon, in Guachochi, Chihuahua state, Mexico on July 15, 2017. More than 600 participants from different countries take part in the 63 and 100 kilometers races, along the Tarahumara mountain range. (Photo by Herika Martinez/AFP Photo)

Francisco Solano poses for a photo in his bird-feather suit after attending a Mass commemorating the feast day of St. Francis Solano, in Emboscada, Paraguay, Friday, July 24, 2015. Some 500 people attended the festivity – a mix of indigenous and Guarani Indian beliefs. The festival begins with a Mass, continues with a procession of the diminutive wooden statue of St. Francis, and ends with people dancing in suits made with black, white, brown and grey feathers. (Photo by Jorge Saenz/AP Photo)

Ecuadorian indigenous people celebrate the festival of the moon or Kulla Raymi, in Quito, Ecuador, 21 September 2021. A circle on the ground made up of fruits and inside the Andean symbol of the chacana, multinational geometric flags and a cross that symbolizes the four cardinal points, were the setting in which the festival of the moon, the Kulla, was commemorated this Tuesday. Raymi, on a hill in Quito. It is one of the four most significant festivities of the Andean agroecological calendar, which commemorates the beginning of life and exalts women as the maximum representation of fertility. (Photo by Jose Jacome/EPA/EFE)

Many people have seen feathers as decorative items before. Today, ostrich, peacock and bird of paradise feathers can be seen in haute couture and in the costumes of indigenous peoples. They can be colorful and spectacular in their own right, but how much more stunning might they be when used as canvases for artists, eager to demonstrate their talent for the unusual? Alaskan-born and -bred artist Julie Thompson is an astounding exponent of this incredible art form.

North Korea's Samjiyon Orchestra performs at Pyongyang Grand Theatre in Pyongyang, North Korea, September 18, 2018. (Photo by Pyeongyang Press Corps/Pool via Reuters)

North Korean defectors, now living in South Korea, prepare to release balloons carrying propaganda leaflets denouncing North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-Il at Imjingak, near the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating South and North Korea on December 28, 2011 in Paju, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)