of a feather
of a feather is the third book in a trilogy that includes Ova Aves and Icarus, Falling of Birds. Conceived as a tribute to the teacher, naturalist, and ornithologist Gay Hansen — Holownia’s late partner and Thurston’s long-time friend, the collection combines Thaddeus Holownia’s photography of bird feathers with the poetry of Harry Thurston.
Taken individually, the photographs and poems are magnificent in their detail and poise, but together they show how both poetry and science can illuminate the natural world, drawing on the ideas of the likes of Rachel Carson and E.O. Wilson. The result is a wonderful tribute to Hansen and an enduring record of beauty in the natural world.
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Thaddeus Holownia, ONB, MSRC, ARC, is a visual artist, letterpress printer, and publisher. He is professor emeritus in the Pierre Lassonde School of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University, where he taught for over forty years. Holownia’s photographs are held in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the International Centre of Photography in New York, and the Yale University Arts of the Book Collection. Holownia has written or contributed to more than 25 publications. He received the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2025.
Harry Thurston is the author of more than twenty books of poetry and non-fiction including Tidal Life: A Natural History of the Bay of Fundy, A Place Between the Tides: A Naturalist’s Reflections of the Salt Marsh, and Keeping Watch at the End of the World. He lives at the edge of a salt marsh in Tidnish Bridge, Nova Scotia.
