Sightings: Bird Journals, 2021 – 2026

This collection of 20 works in pencil, watercolor, pastel, pen and ink, and charcoal offers a sampling of my bird drawings and paintings created between 2021 and 2026. During that time, I was learning not only to identify birds, but also to translate the sense of awe I felt while observing them into my work.

Through these drawings and paintings, I document a moment, a feeling and the unique characteristics of each species. In my grid drawings, I am interested in telling the story of birds encountered on a particular day and in a particular place. As references for my work, I use photographs I have taken, taxidermy specimens, found images, textbooks and field sketches.

Kacy McKinney (she/they) is a visual artist, independent scholar and avid birder based in Portland, Oregon. She serves as Artist-Scholar in Residence with the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative at Portland State University and has served on the boards of Sisters of the Road and the Independent Publishing Resource Center, where she completed the Comics Portfolio Program in 2019. McKinney holds a doctorate in human geography from the University of Washington, a master’s degree in Latin American studies and a bachelor’s degree in Portuguese from the University of Texas at Austin.