Don’t you love it when you stumble upon amazing artwork?

There I was, nonchalantly drifting into the Alcheringa Gallery in Victoria, B.C., expecting to see their usual offerings of high quality, global aboriginal art.  (One could look at Dennis Nona‘s artwork many, many times….and The Art Caravan does.)

Little did I know that I would be sideswiped by their fall show Soaring High, Falling Hard, by Rebecca Jewell.

Here’s a closer look at this piece:

Yes!  Real feathers, and some with bird images printed on them  Not only is the work beautiful, it is technically stunning.  Intaglio printing on….feathers?!!!  Here is an article about the printing process.

The subtitle for the show, Soaring High, Landing Hard is the veneration and exploitation of birds.  Jewell references the extinction of species, and the abuse and threats to birds.   Mist nets, for instance, are used to capture birds, for both research and profit motives.  All the while, the work delights in avian beauty.

Rebecca Jewell is not an aboriginal artist but she has lived in Papua New Guinea and studied Cultural Anthropology at Cambridge. Rebecca Jewell has a PhD in Natural History Illustration from the Royal College of Art.  She is an Artist in Residence at the British Museum.  Please click here for her detailed website and here for more information from the Rebecca Hossack Gallery.  You’ll find a short, informative video here.

If you’re in Victoria, you’re in luck.  Some of this extraordinary work is still on display at Alcheringa Gallery.