Saskatchewan Artist

Angelique Merasty

Angelique Merasty was born in 1924 in Beaver Lake, Saskatchewan. When she was 20 years old, she was taught the Aboriginal art of birch bark biting by her mother, Susan Ballantyne. Learning this complicated art — which involves folding and biting thin sheets of birch bark to create complex designs and patterns that resemble embroidery or lace — involved a great deal of time and trial and error. As Merasty said, “I would sit there for hours, and I ended up wasting a lot of birch bark, but what kept me going was that I knew this was special, this was what I wanted to do.”

Though Merasty initially created the individual elements of her pieces separately, pausing to check her progress along the way, she eventually was able to visualize the entire piece before she began, stopping only when the design was complete.

Merasty began in the style of her mother, who employed traditional patterns in her work. She later developed her own style, incorporating images of a variety of flowers, insects, and animals. Merasty's pieces ranged in size from 7.5 centimeters to about 25 centimeters.

Though the practice of birch bark biting was once a common form of art and entertainment in many communities, fewer artists are learning the skill. Merasty's work, which has helped birch bark biting to become part of the fine art scene, may play a part in reviving this tradition. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Museum of Man and Nature (now the Manitoba Museum, Winnipeg, 1980), and the Thunder Bay National Exhibition Centre and Centre for Indian Art (1983).

In 1983, the University of Regina Press published Merasty's Birch Biting.

Angelique Merasty passed away in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1996.