A team from Woody's Ice Cream shop wrangle a large inflatable dinosaur down the street during the Independence Day Parade in Fairfax, Virginia July 4, 2015. Americans marched in star-spangled parades, ran relay races, gathered for fireworks shows and crowned a new world hot dog eating champion as they celebrated Independence Day in traditional style on Saturday. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

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.

A woman walks up a stairway painted in the rainbow colors in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, July 11, 2020. Romania reported 698 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, the highest level since the pandemic reached the country in February. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

A girl reacts while getting a nasal swab sample at a testing and screening facility for the new coronavirus in a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, July 17, 2020. (Photo by Fareed Khan/AP Photo)

Indigenous nurses from the Special Secretariat for Indigenous Health (Sesai) of the Arapiuns ethnic group and Tapuia ethnic groups perform a rapid COVID-19 test on Chief Domingos from the Arapium tribe on the banks of the lower Tapajos River in the municipality of Santarem in western Para on July 19, 2020. (Photo by Tarso Sarraf/AFP Photo)

Participants dance during the Water Gun Festival on July 07, 2019 in Seoul, South Korea. Thousands of people enjoyed the annual festival which is being held over the weekend during the scorching heat summer in Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Competitors Taisto Miettinen and Katja Kovanen fron Finland participate in the annual Wife Carrying World Championships in Sonkajarvi, Finland on July 6, 2019. People from all over the world took part in the event that was founded in 1992. (Photo by Mauri Ratilaine/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A “mozos”, is caught by the horn of a bull of Miura ranch during the last “encierro”, or running-with-the-bulls, of the Sanfermines festivities in Pamplona, Spain, 14 July 2019. (Photo by Daniel Fernandez/EPA/EFE)