Kirby Flegel is a Cree artist raised in Saskatchewan and now living in Vancouver, B.C (formerly the Cowichan Valley). His youthful experience canoeing through the Canadian boreal forest, observing the landscape, birds, and wildlife helped form the foundation of his art. He continues to be inspired by the animals and birds native to his new home on Vancouver Island.
Kirby is a largely self-taught but accomplished artist. He works with graphite, charcoal or Caran d’Ache colored pencils, on Stonehenge paper. His portraits of eagles, bears, wolves, owls, orcas, otters, and various other animals of the coastal rainforest can be found in collections in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, California, England, The Netherlands, France, and Brazil.
Kirby says he focuses primarily on the faces of the animals he draws because “it is through the face and eyes that we discover the soul of the animal – just as it is through my art you know me.”
