Birch-bark biter keeps art form alive

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Angelique Levac never guessed she would meet her destiny thumbing through a small, dog-eared northern publication while waiting in a post office near Prince George, B.C.

But tucked among the back pages was an article about one of the last birch bark biters in North America, Angelique Merasty. Although no relation, Levac's maiden name is Merasty. Intrigued by the coincidence, Levac reads on. She discovered that the daughter-less Merasty, lived in a remote cabin at Beaver Lake in northern Saskatchewan and was looking for someone to pass the ancient Cree art form on to.

"I was really looking for something to do with my life that I would be proud of and my people would be proud of," Levac said. "I knew at that point that I was supposed to carry this on."

To learn the rare art form, Levac made numerous pilgrimages over several years to Beaver Lake. Today, Levac is one of just three women in Canada entrusted to keep the art form alive. And thanks to guest spots on Bill Cosby's You Bet Your Life television show, CBC Vickie Gabereau and scores of gift shows, the art of birch bard biting is now known throughout Canada and the U.S.

Birch bark biting was traditionally used as design patterns for decorating with porcupine quills and beads. Only unblemished, paper-thin size-specific pieces of bark are carefully peeled from selected birch trees. The artist then folds the bark three times, and using the teeth, bites gently but firmly on the bark, thus creating tooth impressions.

Once the bark is unfolded, a unique, geometric design is revealed. Patterns of flowers, birds, wolves, deer, moose, beaver and bees are some of the more complex designs Levac creates. Matted and framed, they are a unique, one-of-a-kind Native art form. Levac showed her work along with that of two dozen other Aborigjnal artists recently in Edmonton.

While the biting is labor-intensive, Levac said gathering the bark is where the real work is. Each year, Levac and her husband travel 2,000 miles to Manitoba to collect the choicest velvety white bark.

"It's hard to find the right kind of bark," she said, adding that she only removes what she needs and does so in an environmentally friendly way. "You can't even tell that I've peeled it when I'm done."