A woman attends a demonstration on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, in Milan, Italy, Saturday, November 25, 2023. Thousands of people are expected to take the streets in Rome and other major Italian cities as part of what organizers call a “revolution” under way in Italians' approach to violence against women, a few days after the horrifying killing of a college student allegedly by her resentful ex-boyfriend sparked an outcry over the country's “patriarchal” culture. (Photo by Luca Bruno/AP Photo)

An Israeli protester lifts her T-shirt next to Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men outside an army recruiting office in the town of Kiryat Ono near Tel Aviv on March 5, 2024, during a demonstration against their exemption from serving in the army. Since the October 7 attack by Palestinian militants, the question surrounding whether the insular community, whose members see army service as conflicting with their religious duties, should be obligated to serve has sparked debate and led to protests against their decades-long exemptions. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP Photo)

A demonstrator uses her phone to take a “selfie” picture during the 12th annual “SlutWalk” march through central Jerusalem on June 14, 2024 to protest against rape culture, including sеxual assault and harassment directed at women, and calling for an end to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and action to release hostages taken captive during the October 7 attacks. (Photo by Hazem Bader/AFP Photo)

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.

Performers wearing traditional outfits demonstrate the Coopers' Dance on Marienplatz square on January 7, 2012 in Munich, Germany. The Coopers' Dance, known in German as the Schaefflertanz, is performed only every seven years and dates back to 1702. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

Mechanic and welder Sergei Kulagin, 32, strengthens the bracing of a spider sculpture, made by Kulagin, during a demonstration on the wall of an automobile repair workshop in the town of Divnogorsk outside Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, October 15, 2014. Enthusiast Kulagin, who works as a mechanic of an automobile service station, created about 20 sculptures made of used car parts and components during his non-working hours. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Tourists take a “selfie” as demonstrators burn a trash container during a May Day rally in Barcelona, Spain, on May 1, 2014. Tens of thousands of workers marked May Day in European cities with a mix of anger and gloom over austerity measures imposed by leaders trying to contain the eurozone's intractable debt crisis. (Photo by Manu Fernandez/Associated Press)