Iyola Kingwatsiak was one of the first five printmakers in Kinngait whose creativity and resourcefulness contributed to the success of the early Cape Dorset print collections. In Circle of Birds we get to appreciate the artist’s remarkable talent as both a printmaker and a draughtman. As he had done with Osuitok Ipeelee’s 1959 print Four Muskoxen, in the present print, Iyola repeats his single sleek goose shaped stencil five times on the sheet to create a wreath of acrobatic birds in flight. Each of the forms of this avian pinwheel is well articulated with their bodies and wings are described in a series of delicate pochoir yellows, teals, and black in varying tones.

References: For thematically similar works where the artist acted as both illustrator and printer, see Geese Leaving, 1964, First Arts, Toronto, 14 June 2022, Lot 185 and the experimental, Curlew Over Nest, First Arts, Toronto, 13 July 2020, Lot 104. To see examples of Iyola as printmaker, particularly his mastery of stencils, see Ousitok Ipeelee, Four Muskoxen, First Arts, Toronto, Lot 79, 5 December 2022, Kenojuak Ashevak, Rabbit Eating Seaweed, First Arts, Toronto, 20 November 2021, Lot 36, Niviaqsi (Niviaksiak), Polar Bear and Cub in Sea Ice and The Archer, First Arts, Toronto, 5 December 2022, Lot 135, and 14 June 2022, Lot 15, representatively.