Anna Benifield creates intricate works of what she calls paper taxidermy…

My path to this work began at Georgia Tech, where I earned a degree in Industrial Design. That degree led to a decade of design at one of Atlanta's major consumer packaged goods companies, where I bridged art and engineering. It was a discipline that taught me to balance beauty with function, creativity with precision.

I chose to step away from that career to be a more present mother. During that season, I returned to a lifelong fascination with nature and science, earning my Master Naturalist certification and teaching environmental education in the field. Through nature journaling, I became captivated by birds, a passion that ultimately led me to complete the Master Birder program through Birds Georgia.

Somewhere along that journey, everything aligned. Design had given me discipline. Teaching had deepened my connection to the natural world. Art became the place where those experiences converged. It was only when design, art, and nature came together that the work felt whole, and so did I. That intersection is where my practice was born, and it is what I bring to every piece I make.

I call my process paper taxidermy: a deliberate deconstruction and reconstruction of a subject into my own perspective. Each piece begins with research and field study. I hand-paint the papers, cut every element individually, and layer them onto wood panels, sometimes hundreds of pieces in a single work. The process is meticulous by design, rooted in the same devotion to observation that defined early naturalist illustration. But I am examining the same subjects through a contemporary lens, rebuilding each bird entirely by hand into something that reflects my own understanding of them. The process lets me merge the roles of artist and naturalist, dissecting with precision, then rebuilding with care.

The intention is the work. Every cut, every layer, every hour of observation is an invitation to slow down, look closer, and notice the extraordinary life that surrounds us.