Oceanic Art Society

Promoting the understanding and appreciation of Oceanic art.

Stories from all OAS Journal Volumes

Navigating for a Place in the Museum: Stories of Encounter and Engagement between the Old and the New from the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

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A paper by Dr Michael Mel, Australian Museum. Reviewed by Bill Rathmell Dr Michael Mel. Image courtesy of the Australian Museum, Sydney. Michael Mel, the Manager of Pacific and International Collections at the Australian Museum in Sydney, is well known in Oceanic art circles. In an interview in the OAS Journal Vol 23 (2018, #2) […]

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Obituary – Barbara Perry

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13 August 1938 – 10 November 2019. By Ron May Barbara Perry was a larger than life character, well known in Oceanic art circles in Sydney, and later in Brisbane. Barbara Perry (née Hockey) was born in Dubbo and grew up on her father’s sheep station, Courallie, before boarding at the Presbyterian Ladies College, Sydney. Following her […]

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War Art & Ritual: Shields from the Pacific

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Edited by Bill Evans, Two Volumes, 518 pages, 140 Shields illustrated with additional images, eight essays and introduction. Published by William Nathaniel Evans, Woollahra, NSW, Australia, 2019. Reviewed by James Elmslie This lavish and beautifully produced book by Bill Evans is a rich resource for anyone with an interest in the shields of the Pacific […]

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San Francisco Art Fair 2020

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By Krisztina Turza When I boarded the plane from Brisbane to San Francisco in February as a last minute decision, I could not have imagined that rather than the first, it could potentially be the last tribal art show of the year. To a first timer at the San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art Show […]

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Noah’s Art – Floating art galleries of Indonesia

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by Jeffrey Mellefont, Honorary Research Associate, Australian National Maritime Museum The subject of my recent lecture to Oceanic Art Society (OAS) in March – the artistry that can be found on many of the timber sea craft of Indonesia both today and in the past – grew from a wider research interest that has drawn […]

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Hongi Hika: The Legacy Continues

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Modern research continues to reveal secrets long held in uncatalogued documents and artefacts in rich archives. The centrepiece of this edition is the story of current research to identify which of three early Maori carvings is the wooden self-portrait of rangatira (chief) Hongi Hika carved from a fencepost at the farm of missionary Reverend Samuel Marsden in […]

Three busts and a cape – the adventurous life of Hongi Hika

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Story by Brent Kerehona | Image Caption: Bust of Hongi Hika, possibly self-portrait, carved 1814 in Parramatta, NSW Australia. Brighton Hove Museum, United Kingdom, photo © Brent Kerehona. Ki te whei ao, ki te ao maarama, Ki te whei ao, ki te ao maarama,Tihei Mauri Ora! (From out of the darkness, into the light,From out […]

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Easter Island at the NGA

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Story By Crispin Howarth | Photo Caption: Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Moai Kavakava, 18th-mid 19th century. Wood, bone, obsidian. Private Australian collection. There is perhaps nowhere in the world as isolated and remote as Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Known primarily for the enigmatic stone monolith giants, moai, found across its plains and coastlines, it is in wood […]

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Warren Campbell of Bubble Artefacts

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Interview by Jim Elmsie | Photo Caption: Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Moai Kavakava, 18th-mid 19th century. Wood, bone, obsidian. Private Australian collection. Jim Elmsie: Warren Campbell, can you explain what Bubble Art is and how it operates? WC: For me, the name ‘Bubble’ captures the diversity of tribal cultures, and the fragility of those cultures in the technological […]

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