'Ready to eat you': P.E.I. artist brings 10.5 foot dragon to life

When you walk into Levi Cannon Whitebear's living room in Charlottetown, the first thing you notice is that it's also a workshop and a museum.

Two tables, and the piano are covered with paint cans and glue, with carvings hanging everywhere.

And then there's a giant papier mch dragon with moose antlers, hanging from the ceiling.

"This is Matilda. She's my 10 and a half foot dragon," said Cannon.

Cannon, an Algonquin from Ontario who moved to the Island when he was a child, has been carving for almost three decades.

"If it involves bone, stone or wood, I'll carve it."

Last year, Cannon decided he wanted to do something completely different.

"I didn't really want to try another eagle," said Cannon. "Somebody suggested, 'Well why not try a dragon?'"

Creating a mythical creature

And Matilda was born.

"If you're doing a piece like an eagle or a tomahawk it has to be a very specific way but with a dragon a mythical creature you can do pretty well anything you want," said Cannon.

"She's papier mch, moose antler, 20 feet of cardboard, 35 coat hangers, pound and a half of flour, over 100,000 pieces of Bristol board cut and hand-glued on."

Meet P.E.I.'s Matilda: A giant red papier mch dragon with moose antler wings.

7 years ago

Duration 0:50

Meet P.E.I.'s Matilda: A giant red papier mch dragon with moose antler wings.

"It's actually hovering there looking at you, basically ready to eat you," he said.

Cannon has been working on Matilda on and off for the last year and a half, and eventually hopes to sell the dragon.

He even has an image in his mind of what Matilda's new home might look like.

"Somewhere where there would be a cathedral ceiling," he said.

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