About Me and My Art
Inspired by Childhood Memories of PNG
As an artist, I started out working with Steve Johns, Australian Artist, helping out in his studio in Mareeba, in the Atherton Tablelands. I learnt to paint Australian Landscapes on Marble, Sandstone and Ribbonstone using acrylic and fine tipped brushes.. here is where I developed a taste and touch for the brush.
In the early 90s in Adelaide, SA, art came into my life again when my husband and I opened a leadlight (stained glass) shop which was his passion, and for many years, I worked beside him as a leadlight window designer creating French and Victorian style designs for those lovely old homes, public buildings and of course, churches in the City of Churches. Working in this field required a sense of symmetry, geometry (sacred), colour and light which influences the decisions I make when creating my current works. It also feeds my curiosity and leads me to experiment with Cubist and abstract art as can be seen in my Oil Pastel Gallery on this site.
Primarily influenced by the vibrant colours of my birthplace and the works of village artisans and craftspeople, tattooists and woodcarvers, many of which were reproduced on postage stamps my father collected, my paintings in acrylic on canvas depict the wonderful memories I have of growing up in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Apart from having the full village life experiences through my Motuan mother, my parents collected local arts and crafts and took us to every festival and cultural show going on in the city during those years. And thus, we got to see and experience all the colourful tribes and cultures that make PNG so unique and unforgettable.
The images of DukDuks, Mudmen and colourful dancers burn bright in my memory to this day. Through my paintings, I am transported back to relive childhood experiences which are very real and dear to me. I want to express not just my visual memory of them but also how I feel about them....and I hope this all comes through in my work.
Please feel free to browse through my memories and thank you for loving my work as I have loved creating it. If you'd like to have any of them on your wall, first of all, I'm absolutely humbled and honored, secondly, you can order gorgeous Giclee prints on high quality paper or stretched canvas from BuyArtNow.com.au.
With Love and Light ~ Shar
Current Works
Hiri Hanenamo
Hiri Hanenamo
Hiri Hanenamo
Hiri Hanenamo means Hiri Queen. She is tattooed and schooled in the ways of her people as she waits patiently for the return of her man from the long and arduous trading journey to the Gulf of Papua on board the lagatoi, the traditional sailing vessel of the Motuan People.
She was the finest example of womanhood, loyalty, fidelity, beauty, wisdom and grace for all Motuan women of her time.
Acrylic on Canvas
Original size: 70cm x 90cm
NOT FOR SALE
Prints available exclusively at:
3 DukDuks
Hiri Hanenamo
Hiri Hanenamo
DukDuk are spirit totems, part of a secret society within the traditional culture of the Tolai people of the Rabaul area of New Britain. I was privileged (though terrified) to encounter them many times as a child at SingSing Festivals in Port Moresby.
Acrylic On Canvas
Original Size: 90 x 60cm
Original Price: $2800
Email: shar@merkabart.com.au
For reproductions go to:
Asaro Mudmen
Hiri Hanenamo
PNG Highlands Dancer
The "Mudmen" of Papua New Guinea's Asaro tribe, also known as the Holosa, wear a traditional costume centered around masks made of mud. They live near the village of Goroka in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.
Acrylic on Canvas
Original Size: 100 x 50cm
Original Price: $3500
Email: shar@merkabart.com.au
For reproductions go to:
PNG Highlands Dancer
PNG Highlands Dancer
PNG Highlands Dancer
She has traveled a long way from her quiet, remote home in the PNG Highands to the city of Port Moresby to perform for the SingSing.
As she waits to play her part in the day's spectacle, she glances around and catches me admiring her magnificent headdress made from feathers of the Birds of Paradise.
She smiles brightly and holds out the CusCus so I may feel its soft, grey, speckled fur and curl my finger into its strange leathery tail.
Acrylic on Canvas
Original Size: 50 x 100cm
Original Price: $4200
Email: shar@merkabart.com.au
For reproductions go to:
PNG Clay Mask
PNG Highlands Dancer
PNG Gourd Mask
A depiction of a painted clay mask using design elements of the legendary wood carvers of the East Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea.
Such masks we made up from red river clay, embedded with cowry shells and featuring edges of woven pandanus leaf.
Feathers of the local Birds of Paradise were often used to adorn the edges of the masks while pig tusks and rib bones of large fish and mammals were inserted into hollow nostrils and earlobes as jewelry and symbols of strength and prowess.
Acrylic on Canvas
Original Size: 50 x 60cm
Original Price: SOLD
Email: shar@merkabart.com.au
For reproductions go to:
PNG Gourd Mask
PNG Highlands Dancer
PNG Gourd Mask
A depiction of a painted gourd mask using design elements of the legendary wood carvers and artisans of the Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea.
Such masks were made on the dried shells of the Gourd fruit. This mask sports a beard of embedded cowry shells and a forehead featuring a carved wooden bird.
Feathers of the local Birds of Paradise are used to adorn the edges of the mask while pig tusks are inserted into hollow nostrils as jewelry and symbols of strength and prowess.
Acrylic on Canvas
Original Size: 19 x 30cm
SOLD
Email: shar@merkabart.com.au
For reproductions go to:
PNG Carved Wood Mask
PNG Carved Wood Mask
PNG Carved Wood Mask
A depiction of a carved wood mask, painted with traditional designs of the legendary wood carvers and artisans of the Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea.
Such masks were made from the wood of local trees readily available in the forests and jungles surrounding their remote villages along the Sepik River.
This mask features markings reminiscent of ancient warriors of lands further East, however they are also typical of designs of the Sepik people.
Feathers of the local Birds of Paradise are used to adorn the edges of the mask while fibrous ropes are tied into hollow nostrils as jewelry and symbols of strength and prowess.
Acrylic on Canvas
Original Size: 19 x 30cm
SOLD
Email: shar@merkabart.com.au
For reproductions go to:
PNG Spirit Mask
PNG Carved Wood Mask
PNG Carved Wood Mask
A depiction of a painted mask using ancient design elements of the legendary wood carvers and artisans of the Middle Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea.
Used to evoke ancestral spirits during traditional ceremonies, such masks were made from a mix of materials occurring naturally in the forests and jungles surrounding their remote villages dotted along the Sepik River.
Designed to strike fear and reverence into heart of its beholder, this is a Spirit Mask. Below a menacing grimace lies a beard made from large and small cowry shells inlayed in soft dark clay on a carved, wood face.
Real human hair and bird of paradise feathers top a forehead embellished with painted tribal designs. Pig tusks, symbols of strength and prowess, protrude from flared nostrils above a cut out mouth space embedded with human teeth, a symbol of connection to the underworld.
Acrylic on Canvas
Original Size 50 x 60cm
Original Price: $1200
Email: shar@merkabart.com.au
For reproductions go to:
Oil Pastel Gallery
PNG Carved Wood Mask
Oil Pastel Gallery
Paintings in Oil Pastel on Canvas and Paper
These works reflect other styles I like to use as an artist to express the memories and experiences that burn bright and light the way forward in my life.
For prints
Email: shar@merkabart.com.au