Kristi Bird — Taking Flight - theHumm August 2023

By Sally Hansen

Kristi Bird is a Canadian artist who has been painting in Ontario for 30 years.

She is self taught, painting wise and has studied at Durham College where she graduated from a three-year graphic design program.

Kristi is passionate about her subject matter and enjoys painting wildlife and nature. A prolific painter, she has pieces in private collections across Canada.

Art… and Soul

For Kristi Bird, her art is both a refuge and her salvation. Her alluring acrylic paintings of wildlife and nature are a feast for the eyes and balm for the soul. In a world that is struggling to cope with more and more overwhelming challenges, the solace of the natural world grows ever more compelling. Bird’s loving celebrations of nature and the wild creatures with whom we share this fragile planet are profoundly therapeutic, both for the artist and the viewer. I would challenge anyone to gaze upon her painting of three playful fox kits without an involuntary smile tugging at the corners of their mouth.

Kristi’s dramatic portrait of a swan spreading its huge white wings against a dark background is a stunning testament to the lifetime this self-taught artist has devoted to healing herself with her art. Back in 2015 she posted a commentary about what her art means to her. Titled “Something Beautiful,” it reads as follows: “In this strange world I have been witness to horrifying things. I know they exist. The heart can only take so much pain and angst before it gives up. I choose my subject matter (for painting) carefully, dancing around the horrible and the ugly that I know is available anywhere I look. I choose beautiful over ugly. I choose peaceful over chaos. I choose love over hate. I hope that my paintings remind you of something beautiful in your strange world. When all hope is lost, find the beauty within. We are all something beautiful.”

The Strange World of Birdland

It started with an abusive father. As part of his anger management program, he led his family into going public with a nationally televised documentary that exposed their “secret” to the world. Kristi was ten years old. Her mother, whom she describes as “a rock, the strongest, most generous woman I have ever known,” left the marriage when he relapsed and became abusive again. At sixteen Kristi dropped out of high school and got married to give birth to her daughter. She was divorced three years later. Then began a progression of relationships characterized by pain and tragedy, but also blessing her with a son. Her common-law husband of five years suffered from depression and committed suicide when her kids were thirteen and nine. Another partner proved to be a bad mistake.

And when she chose well, tragedy struck. Between 2016 and 2020, Kristi spent most of her time administering care to two family members, both confined to wheelchairs and hospital beds. Her daughter Sky succumbed to brain cancer in 2019 at the age of twenty-nine. Her former partner went into nursing care in 2020 as the result of the long-term catastrophic effects of a personality-changing stroke. As a result of their tragic situation, they all moved from Oshawa to a wheelchair-accessible but very cramped space in the Rideau Lakes home of Kristi’s generous mother, Cheryl, and stepfather, Peter Bird. “Their help and unflagging support was what made it possible for me to take care of my family when they needed me,” she tells me. She is so grateful, adding: “Everyone has a biological father; Peter showed me what it means to have a Dad.”

The Art of Survival

Creating art is Kristi Bird’s salvation — her method of healing trauma. Her father was an artist, and she started learning about paints as a child. She was always creative, building things, sewing and exploring various crafts. She was also dyslexic, not able to read until she was thirteen years old. She smiles mischievously as she confides that the reason she talks so quickly is that she still can read only as fast as she can speak.

Like so many artists, she remembers the thrill and consequent motivation of the first public recognition of her talent when in Grade Eight one of her works was chosen to be in an art show. After she finally returned to complete her high school education at the age of thirty, she went on to earn her three-year diploma in graphic arts from Durham College in Oshawa. She started painting from her own photos, and entered her first show at “Art in the Park” in Oshawa two decades ago.

For Bird, the therapeutic value of painting transports her to a safe and productive space. Much has been written about being “in flow.” I read recently in Fast Company that “Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is believed to have first introduced the concept of flow. He defines flow as a state of intense focus and absorption in an intrinsically rewarding activity. In a flow state, we feel energized, motivated, and fully engaged in the task before us.” In Bird’s practiced hands, the results of her safe and productive space transport others into a similar space of peace and healing contemplation of the natural world.

For someone with early learning challenges, part of Kristi’s enjoyment of and pride in her artistic accomplishments stems from the fact that she is self-taught. She experiments endlessly; when others sit down to watch TV, she sits down and paints. She wants other budding artists to know that it is normal to reach a point in almost every painting you are working on where you think it isn’t good enough. Her solution, and advice, is to persevere and search for that creative breakthrough. As an example, her use of an orange ground to create movement is spectacularly effective in her portrait of a white swan. It was something she learned from fellow artist Margaret Martin at a Rideau Lakes Artists’ Association paint-in. You can see for yourself at kristibird.com/works , or full screen at minute 1:23 at youtube.com/watch?v=D0KCQyxRbas .

Paint the Summer Art Show and Sale

Better yet, watch the full two minutes of her YouTube video to enjoy a preview of the artworks Kristi Bird will be showing in the Rideau Lakes Artists’ Association’s annual Paint the Summer Art Show and Sale on August 26 and 27. Parking and admission are free at the Westport Arena at 37 Spring Street. Go with the flow — and check the back of her Artist Trading Card for additional coordinates and more healing opportunities to commune with nature as celebrated by the area’s many fine artists.