The Feathers of Our Body

John Skibo

Interview by C. VanWinkle
January 19, 2025


What was the prompt that you responded to? Can you describe it for me?

I got a bit of writing. It started out as a description of someone walking their dog and experiencing anxiety about their dog’s bowel movements, then remarking on the birds and what they're doing. It took a surprising turn at that point, where it went into detail about the birds shitting and screaming at each other that they wanted to kill. It got pretty violent. Then the end took another dramatic turn where the narrator talks about trying to dress up like a bird and, if I remember correctly, putting feathers on their body. And the most important aspect was learning how to curse like a bird.

What was your first impression of it? What did this piece make you think of?

It took an adjustment period to acclimate to the writing. It's not necessarily something that I would be drawn to unless it was assigned to me. So that was a bit of a challenge, but I think a fun one, in that it put me in a position to try something completely different outside of my comfort zone.

That's cool, I think that's really healthy. That’s one of the benefits of doing this. Whatever you get is what you get.

Yeah, your framework invites that kind of playfulness, and I really embrace that. I've worked on a few collaborative projects in the past, one with an artist that I went to school with, Jena Thomas. It was really fun and a bit difficult. The reason I picked her was our work is kind of similar in that we’re both painters. And then what she sent me was so outside of what she normally does. So this was similar in that vein.

How did you go about getting started on your response to the writing? How did you know what to do?

I didn't know what to do at all. [laughs] I read it a few times and kept thinking about it and describing it to people. Then I went through and picked out parts that jumped out to me like the descriptive words, and I made a list. It might be in one of the photos I sent you.

Yes, those pictures make it look like you went through quite a journey. I assumed you would respond with a painting, and it looks like that was part of your process.

I am a painter. I'm also a sculptor, a complete novice sculptor. So yeah, I expected to do a drawing or painting, and I started with that. I started drawing things that were in the piece, thinking of it as an opportunity to illustrate what the story was. That felt like there was a hierarchy and I was subservient to it, and I didn’t love that idea. So I started experimenting with different drawing techniques – I used brush pen and some markers and whatnot. And from there I made a painting. I kept thinking about it, and my partner suggested that I use this sculpture that I’d made of a collection of feathers, photograph that, and maybe that could be my response. It was a lot of experimentation and just straight-up playing in the studio. Just kind of seeing what sticks and what doesn't.

Wow, there was so much variety in your journey throughout this piece! Are you pretty good at letting the process guide you?

No. No, I'm a planner. I'm a checklist and to-do list planner. My process in artmaking is more series oriented. I get excited about something for a while and I make stuff like that, and then I get sick of it and bored of myself, and I switch gears pretty dramatically. I think maybe this was like that on steroids or something.

I see! Looking at your process imagery, it doesn’t look carefully planned. It looks like you were on something of an adventure, figuring out where to go.

I think that accurately describes it.

It's pretty cool that you’d already made something with feathers.

Yeah, I collected those feathers because they're beautiful. They’re in the forest right by my house, right there in the Fells, like a block away. I see feathers all the time. You know, birds get massacred by some owl or something, and there's just a pile of feathers so I pick them up and have been collecting them. I’ve made a lot of sculptures out of old pillows that we've slept on and are stained and gross and not good for the guest bed anymore. A couple of times, I’ve cut those open and tried to use those feathers, but it’s such a messy material that I've yet to come up with anything that I really enjoy.

With your experience in the woods and with birds, were you able to relate more to the piece having seen birds gone wild?

Only with some species. I think the tenor of the piece that I responded to was kind of dark and it painted birds in a negative light. They're screaming at each other and they're very upset. While I do sense that birds are a bit manic, they're also stunning and amazing creatures that do so many beautiful things. I'm currently in school studying biology, learning all about biological processes and ecology and the interconnectedness of us and the animal kingdom. So my take on our relationship to the world at large is one of being cut from the same cloth. The prompt was a bit more antagonistic. I have more of a reverence for nature and I didn't pick up on that in the writing. I think my piece was more like the flip side of that coin in that it focused on the beauty of it.

I like that. Throughout this project, some people continue the concepts they pick up on in the prompt, and others have a different perspective and flip it. I love not knowing how the prompt is going to strike the next contributor. How does this piece relate to the rest of your work?

That's something I've been thinking about and I'm not entirely sure. Most of the sculptures I've made have utilized construction materials and been figurative in nature. This piece actually uses some construction foam; that's what the feathers are stuck in. And instead of a figure, it's the presence of the feathers themselves, which is kind of the vestiges of a figure. So I guess they're related in that way. But in a pictorial sense, my previous sculptural work has been far more figurative and human.

I haven't seen your other sculptural work, but when I think of “construction materials,” I think of something heavy or industrial, the opposite of feathers. Is this piece a departure in that way?

Not necessarily. I use construction materials because I work in construction, so I have a dearth of material at my fingertips. I’m always saving it from going into dumpster quite so quickly. I have been really drawn to it because of the speed with which I can do stuff with construction materials and trash, because I am not precious with it. When I'm short on time, I can quickly and roughly make something, whereas with painting, I'm far too invested in the craft of it. It takes so much time and is such a slow process. It's about trying to balance the quick and the slow processes.

Oh yes. We’ve worked with poets and digital illustrators, as well as quilters and ceramicists. So the speed at which one can create something really does impact what people wind up contributing to this project.

Definitely. It affects everything we do.

Do you work with prompts much?

Sometimes. I’ve used Brian Eno’s “Oblique Strategies,” which are flash cards that are essentially prompts. They introduce some unknown or unexpected aspects into my work. But I haven’t used them lately, no.

Alright. Now that you are on this side of this process, what is your advice to a new person getting their prompt today?

This may be what drew me to this project in the first place. Embrace change. Change is the one constant in our life. Change and time. The better you can adapt to change, the better you are at existing in life, I think.

How do you feel about that as a planner?

Good! Things happen, it's always something. You always have to adapt to something every single day, you know? You drive to work and you expect it to be a smooth ride, and then 15 people cut you off, and you just gotta roll with it.

Call Number: G121PP | G122VA.skiFe

John Skibo is a painter and sculptor represented by MTN SPACE GALLERY in Lake Worth, Florida. His work is influenced by art history and the pursuit of seeing things anew. He lives and works in the Boston area.