Born on September 20, 1973 in Fort McLeod, AB, Valencia M. Bird is Cree, from the Saddle Lake First Nation, which is located northeast of Edmonton by St. Paul, Alberta. She is a mother of four children, two boys and two girls. She is teaching her daughters the wonder of working with stone. Her signature style incorporates an incredible ability to balance her carvings, as though they are caught frozen in dance.
She was raised on a 365 acre farm in Alberta, where she had spent much of her childhood free time deep within the forests, developing a close connection to the land and wildlife. It was at the farm, playing with natural mud and clay, when Valencia’s art career began. In 1989, she moved from the farm to the city of Edmonton and spent much of her free time in the provincial museum of Alberta, the Citadel Theater, and the local libraries. She spent hours drawing the wildlife exhibits at the museum; this time would serve her well in designing prototypes for her carving career which began in 1998.
1n 1998, Valencia spent many hours watching her uncle, Donnie Bird, carve in his shop. She spent several months hanging around the shop, and one day, her uncle offered her a piece of stone and told her, "You’ve been watching long enough now, you should know what to do". Thus, began Valencia’s career within the art of capturing and bringing out the spirits within the stone. She mentored under her uncle solid for a year, and then branched onto her own to discover her own style.
Valencia has a deep reverence for the northern elements, and as one can see, that influence can be seen within her art. Clear flowing movement, well rounded curves, and deep emotion emit within each piece. Much the same way Old Man Coyote blew smoke on the clay figurines to bring life to Turtle Island, Valencia offers sacred tobacco to the spirit of the stone, which then shows itself coming out from the bulk of the rock.
Valencia carves grizzly, black, and polar bears, in different poses, standing, walking, and dancing, digging, and fishing, jumping, and swimming. She carve buffalo, seals, owls, and eagles, and whales. Several of her pieces have been humanoid, often depicting the true ruggedness of natural life, mother and child, the hunter, the lovers, each piece touches the inner chi of the viewer and connects to the inner true nature.
She has worked with serpentine, alabaster, chlorite, African Wonderstone, Catalinite (commonly referred to as Pipestone), and both BC and Brazilian Soapstone. Valencia's works reside in North American and International collections including Germany, Thailand, Switzerland and Hong Kong.