By Chris Cunningham
The Scene staff
Some people walk past feathers on the ground and pay no attention. Forest Park student Don Wilson sees art.
“They’re neat,” he said. “They’re different.”
Wilson particularly likes their tactile feel.
“If you take a ruffled feather and smooth it, it is soothing,” he said. “And if you ruffle somebody’s feathers, you outta smooth (them).”
Wilson spent two years collecting feathers for a multimedia exhibit in the Gallery of Contemporary Art at Forest Park. It’s called “O’ to Fly Again.”
Wilson washed the feathers, threaded them with fishing line and then hung them from the ceiling.
“He collected 14,000 to 15,000 feathers,” said Matthew Issacson, associate art professor and gallery director. “People even started giving him feathers.”
Wilson also posted signs with the names of extinct bird species, such as the Paradise Parrot and the Arabian Ostrich; fictional bird characters such as Big Bird and Pegasus; and historical figures such as Orville Wright.
One small sign reads, “10,000 species. 1,200 under threat of extinction.”
In addition, a video shows a flock of birds moving in an intricate pattern, a phenomenon known as “murmuration.”
“With multimedia, the viewer gets hit on the head (with the message),” Isaacson said.
Joseph Rogers is a reference librarian who works near the gallery. He saw the exhibit while Wilson was installing it.
“I thought it was excellent,” he said. “I like the way it combines literature, movies, science and history.”
Wilson is a former tennis instructor. He’s been taking classes at St. Louis Community College for about a decade. It started when a friend encouraged him to enroll in a ceramics class.
“She thought I might be good at it,” he said.
In 2010, Wilson created another nature-oriented exhibit that was displayed at the Forest Park Art Annex. It was called “While Walking the Dog.
Wilson hung empty cicada shells perched on leaves from the ceiling on fishing line.
“I took maple seed pods and attached them to the shells, so it looked like they could fly,” he said.
About two years ago, Wilson started picking up feathers in Forest Park, then in county parks and even the college’s parking lot.
“It is amazing,” he said. “If you pick up a feather, you will see another.”
Wilson describes the exhibit as a metaphor but declines to explain it. He invites people to visit the gallery and figure it out for themselves.
Issacson worked closely with Wilson on “O’ to Fly Again.” He sees the exhibit as a way to repurpose the feathers.
“By him collecting these feathers, he is putting his life into these dead objects,” Issacson said.
“(Death) is something that everyone has to confront at some point in their life. How do you elevate that idea? How do you bring a positive note to it?”