Birch Bark Biting – An extraordinary aboriginal art form

Birch Bark Biting is one of the oldest aboriginal art forms. It originated with the Woodland Ojibwe and the Cree nations. Today it is practiced by only a handful of artists in Canada, but interest in this beautiful art form is increasing and therefore interest in how to practice it is increasing as well.

In the past, birch bark biting was used both for entertainment and as a means of making patterns for quill and beadwork. Imagine women and children sitting around a fire inside a birch bark house or teepee. They would probably be burning birch bark logs, as they burn so well. Perhaps a woman idly placed a piece of bark in between her teeth and bit down. She noticed how her teeth bruised the bark. So she experimented with folding and biting the bark. Her children would try it and find it amusing. It would become a good way to occupy them. Other women would also try, and the more creative among them would begin to visualize designs and see how they could be used as patterns for their quill and beadwork. Perhaps a competition would be held, to see who could come up with the most elaborate designs. A birch bark pattern would be used on a garment once the bite marks had been rubbed with a stick from a fire and thus filled with charcoal. The pattern would be gently rubbed onto the hide, forming the pattern for the beadwork. Thus the art of birch bark biting was born. Unfortunately, with the advent of paper, the art almost disappeared as it was no longer needed for pattern making.

Since the early 1990s, a few artists have taken up the art again. These artists strongly believe that aboriginal people should strive to maintain their traditional art forms. They believe that birch bark biting has many teachings: patience, respect, kindness, creativity, medicine, imagination and sharing. Birch bark bitings are like people. No two are the same and every one is beautiful and special in its own way.

Here is how it is done:
A thin piece of birch bark is needed. The bark is folded in the same way one would fold paper when making a snowflake. Instead of cutting, you would bite the design, being careful not to bite right through the bark. You would visualize what you wanted to create and would bite gently as you rotated the bark with your hand. When you unfolded it, you would have a perfectly symmetrical design.

Artists use these birch bark bitings to make jewelry or they frame them to hang in windows for an effect similar to stained glass. The designs are typically related to nature, reflecting Indian peoples’ deep respect for all the plants and creatures that share the earth with human beings.