Artist practises ancient art form

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The winter of 1980 heralded the beginning of a personal journey for Angelique Levac, one of three remaining birch bark biting artists in Canada.

Birch bark biting is an ancient art form commonly practised by northern woodland women.

Levac's odyssey started when she discovered a magazine article on Angelique Merasty, an elderly woman living in Beaver Lake, Saskatchewan, who practised birch bark biting.

Two things immediately caught Levac's attention. First the names - her maiden name was once Merasty; and second, the elderly Merasty had no daughter to hand down the traditional art to.

Although Levac has seen her grandmother practise the art as a child, it was not until she read about Merasty that her desire and curiosity were captured.

Making contact with Merasty was easy. Reaching her proved more difficult.

Levac's first journey to Beaver Lake was in the middle of winter was hampered by weather conditions. She flew from Uranium City, caught a bus to Flin Flon and rented a car to Beaver Lake. The ice separating her from Merasty, who lived on an island, finally proved too thin for traveling across by foot and too thick to be broken by boat.

Undaunted, Levac returned in 1981, travelling from Uranium City where she lived with her husband and three small children. This time, she slung her enthusiasm on her back and arrived on Merasty's doorstep in the middle of a blizzard.

"I really believe that God wanted me to do this. I had to do it, no one could stop me," she laughs. "Some people thought I was crazy, but I was really stubborn," she adds.

At last at Merasty's house, Levac was so eager to learn, she wanted to start right away.

"I had to be patient for one more whole day! My teacher said, 'It's winter, we can't get our bark. We'll go out tomorrow.' I walked across to the mainland and returned the next day. I did this for the whole week, back and forth daily."

The week was filled with learning about how to select, peel and preserve bark and of course the rudiments of the art.

"I was trying to see her teeth, but I couldn't! My teacher said it was something I'd have to develop. You should have seen all the bark I wrecked!"

The paper-thin bark is folded in half and then folded in quarters and one more time, making a triangle. Very carefully the eye teeth are used to make indentations. Levac specializes in animals and butterflies surrounded by traditional symbols. Some pieces are as small 4" x 4" and some are approximately 17" x 20". Levac plans to combine her birch bark biting with acrylic painting in the future.

Over the past 11 years, birch bark biting has taken Levac into places she never dreamt she would find herself. Growing up on a trapline with her grandparents, speaking only Cree until she was 14, made her shy with very little confidence.

However, Levac attributes her initial success to the support she was given through the Native Friendship Centre, which sent her to the first International Native Arts Festival held in Regina.

Now, residing in Prince George, the confidence she has developed through her art has culminated in her work with young offenders and street kids where she provides them with a strong message from personal experience along with teaching arts and crafts.

"I tell them: If a person really wants to do something with their life, they have to work hard at it. You will never get anywhere if you wait for someone else to do it for you. You have to do it for yourself."