This lot includes an original Angelique Merasty Birchbark Biting, an Indigenous art practice of dentally perforating designs into folded sheets of thin bark. Birchbark biting is one of the oldest Indigenous art forms, historically practiced by women of the Subarctic and Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. While most birchbark biters created designs with lines, Merasty used a pointillist approach and created complex symmetrical images of flowers, insects, animals, and landscape sceneries. Merasty’s process for creating each biting remained consistent. For each work, she folded a fresh layer of birch bark, 2 or more times, depending on the size and complexity of the work. Merasty would then rotate the folded shape by using her hands and tongue, while biting marks along its folds. Her designs usually began at the center fold, and moved towards the outer edges. The pressure of her bites varied, resulting in a range of shades and surface textures. Her method of creating, produced intricate and symmetrical compositions. The sizes of her works were anywhere between seven-and-a-half centimetres, to around twenty-five centimetres. She was one of the last recorded artists during her time to maintain the Indigenous, traditional art of birchbark biting and she passed her teachings on to a woman named Angelique Merasty Levac, who lives in Manitoba. She is known for reviving the art or birch-bark biting, and there is now an estimate of 12 known people who continue this tradition in North America. Merasty's work was showcased in several Canadian museums including the Museum of Man and Nature and the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and also has permanent displays in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. Attached to the rear side is a printed write-up of Angelique, written prior to her death. In very exceptional condition, 8.75"H x 5.25"W x .25"D