Birch Bark Day

Sustenance economics, my parents called this type of living, resilience and survival economics. Where there was a need there was a way to meet that need. Many Native American crafters use various materials such as birch bark to "make" a living. I am proud to introduce you to my two cousins, Yvonne Keshick-Walker and Arnold Walker who are Birch Bark workers. They use their skills and nature to craft wonderful pieces of quill boxes and quill work.

My cousin Yvonne Walker-Keshick is a very talented Quill Box crafter. Her skills have gained her recognition not only locally but nationally. Even though I am extremely proud of her success, I think of her in a warm loving manner. Afterall, I get to sit with her at dinners and I have a teacher who can teach me our heritage beyond the crafting table. Afterall, she too was an archivist for our community. Our conversations can span a great depth of knowledge but today, I will focus on her artistic skills.

Above is an article was printed in the Petoskey News-Review Graphic, June 19, 2017. While reading the article, I smiled because the interviewer asked her where she got her supplies. Her answer was a good example of sustenance economics. We get our quills from roadkill and we go to the woods for birchbark and turn them into fine pieces of work to sell. This skill supplements her income. Who would have known that her skills would gain recognition.

I am not much of a crafter and the patience it takes to make quill art is more than I can give. As I prepared for this article I spent a lot of time researching her events in the news. Below is a picture of a class she held in 2003. If you click on the link you can get a bigger view of a project being completed by a student. Tons of holes are poked in the birchbark and the quills are inserted into the holes. Then the artist pulls the pokey quills tight with tweezers. Once complete, they are secured with glue, protected by more birchbark and stitched together with sweetgrass which is harvested in the spring to early summer.

Cousin, Meet Second Cousin

Yvonne is considerably older than I and I did not get to know her until I matured. Our family is very large and has wide spread and we did not get to really get to know each other until a few years ago. I smile at this stupid fact. She gave birth to my second cousin two days before I was born. His name is Arnold Walker. In Native land, everyone is a cousin and it took me awhile to figure out the dynamics of the family. Still years apart we get along so well and Arnie and I are twin Gemini's so we get along too. Just seems crazy to me how variations in ages my family has between us.

Arnold Walker

Family is not always close. We all lived vastly different lives even though we were all family. I remember meeting Arnold in elementary school. First grade was the year I met him and I noticed that the next year he was gone. The teacher that year made it very clear that he and I knew we were cousins. I remember Arnie and I sharing a school birthday together. Mom made cookies for me and Arnie had brought a snack. We knew of each other but we did not get to know each other.

Shared Art

Years had passed and I did not see him until family reunion time. I would say hello again and we wouldn't hang out but we knew of each other. As most parents do, they train their children a craft or develop one of their skills. Arnold took after his mother. His quill work is so detailed that I am awed. His "flair" is different than his mother's is. Both styles of quill work speaks of the creativity of each individual. Below is a picture of Arnold's quill box he sold years ago.

As mentioned before, Arnie and I are the same age. We are elders according to our community. Arnie still has his mother but I do not. My generation was taught to take care of our elders. So, Yvonne is a well cared for Auntie/cousin when my generation comes around. She has a good spirit but the body is running down. She has trouble getting into the woods now for the birchbark. So Arnold usually goes and gets their year stash during harvesting season for the two of them.

Two Too Old Yet Young Enough

[Taking a deep breath] Arnold and I have to admit that we are getting old. Yet, we fight this fact daily because we are only 57. Arnold's feet are killing him and I am plain old out of shape yet he and I collaborated together to go and get the Auntie/Cousin some birchbark. This means ladies and gentlemen, two tracking!

Northern Michigan can be fun to explore. There are many "two tracks" in the area thanks to lumbering. My friends and I would "explore" these trails in cars that were never meant for two tracking. I do not know why I was always the driver, but man I could get us through some pretty tight spots. Back in my youth I was fearless and loved a challenge but there were times when I was worried I couldn't get my friends out of the trails safely but I always did. [shaking head] Oh, that poor little brown Chevrolets. I could shift my way though just about anything.

Back to Arnie's and my Adventure. The above picture doesn't come close to the condition I took my all wheel drive SUV through. OMG, I am so thankful I did not have Clyde when I was a teen. Clyde took sand and mud so easily that I had a ball. Arnie would choose a path and I would head on down the barely traveled roads to look for birchbark. One road would give us a sloshy adventure the next a sandy slow crawl. I would drive and Arnie would search the forest for the lovely birch trees. The adventure was so fun.

Road Kill, Sheila, Road Kill

The day began to darken as the sun's rays began to fade and we could no longer see through the woods for the white trees. When up the trail a bit we could see a buddy moving in the road. As we drove closer we could see that it was a porcupine. One of these little guys can give a quill artist 30,000 quills to 40,000 quills to work with. Please forgive the next section.

"Want me to run over it?", I asked Arnold earnestly.

A thud fell across my shoulder as he said, "Road kill, Sheila, Road kill."

Ladies and gentlemen, I know that thinking was twisted but we had birchbark and I knew they had sweetgrass but there he was, a gift? Maybe? There was no good excuse for such thinking and Arnold kept me on the right path. I offered tobacco to ask for forgiveness of that thought. That little guy could have helped my family greatly. Yet, I had to repeat, "roadkill, yes roadkill." Ladies and gentlemen, that little guy crawled up a tree and looked down upon us.

The night settled in and there was more fun than product collected that day. Arnie and I enjoyed our time in the woods. I learned how to harvest the bark to not hurt the tree. These basic lesson are necessary for the health of the tree. Such teachings are important for the tree. We know the sacrifice they give by letting its bark peel nicely. With a call to the cousin, we delivered our news of our day. We wanted Yvonne to know that we were successful in providing for her needs. I am sure she went to bed with a smile.

I went home on the end of the day extremely tired and yet felt successful. I got to know Arnie better by having fun in the woods. I am blessed to have family members who are truly talented. Yvonne and Arnie, are truly amazing crafters. I am certainly proud that they are family. They are worth the effort in providing assistance to create such beautiful pieces of work.

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