What is Modern Art of the Pacific?
Recent months have seen Oceanic art enthusiasts gathered for two art fairs in Paris in September and Sydney in October. By all accounts, there was great enthusiasm and artworks. In …
Volume 29
Somuk: The First Modern Artist of the Pacific?
by Nicolas Garnier Biographies of Pacific artists usually focus on contemporary artists and artists coming from wealthy Pacific countries, especially Australia. Scholars or museum curators have devoted substantial biographies to …
Ron Perry
by Carolyn Leigh Ron (Roland Lewis) Perry grew up in Tucson, Arizona, USA during the 1930s Depression. Both his grandfathers died young. Their widows and extended families instilled an early …
Some thoughts about the Awaiama Stone Spatula
by Stéphane Duckett Stone artefacts in Oceanic Art are relatively uncommon and almost wholly limited to axe or club heads. It is perhaps not surprising that in the Massim area, …
Sun & Shadow: Art of the Spinifex People
2023, 384 pages, John Carty & Luke Scholes, Upswell Publishing. Review by Margaret Cassidy Opening this dark blue bound book launches the reader forth into the colour and patterns of …
Great Vibes at the Art Fairs
by Noëlle Rathmell-Stiels The 2024 Sydney Oceanic Art Fair at the Art Leven Gallery in Redfern was a great success thanks to a dynamic organising subcommittee under the leadership of …
From kastom objects to Pacific art
In early August we gathered for the Oceanic Art Society’s 2024 Forum at the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney. This brought a rich and diverse set of presenters into one of the best contemporary museum spaces in Australia.
A Dilettante in the Humboldt Forum
by David Hourigan I have been responsible for the graphic design of each OAS Journal for many, many years. I do not collect Oceanic art (my own collecting focuses on …
Rover – From Warmun to Venice
2023, 57 pages, JD Mittman, Burrinja Review by Margaret Cassidy Warmun in the East Kimberleys is indeed a long way from Venice but both are places of great beauty and …
More Than You Might Think: Exploring Micronesian Sculpture
by Eric Kjellgren In contrast to the rich diversity of sculptural traditions in other areas of Oceania, surveys of Oceanic Art (including Kjellgren 2007 and 2014) often describe Micronesia as …
Who tells what Oceanic art stories?
A former colleague recently shared her five communications tips - question the news value; know the audience; highlight the lead; feature people, not objects; and create visual elements - which led me to thinking about this Journal.
What is the Mystery Object?
by Margaret Cassidy Last edition we heard from Timothy Pietsch, Manager, Wantok Place, North Adelaide (Museum of Papua New Guinea Artefacts) that when having their collection assessed the museum staff had …
Letter to the editor
One of the reasons the Oceanic Art Society was established was to encourage Sydney's Australian Museum to put more of its Oceanic Art collection, the largest in the world, on display. Your review of the comprehensive and empathetic book by Maia Nuku: Oceania the Shape of Time, in the latest OAS Journal, highlights stark differences in the contemporary approach to Oceanic museology and curatorship here and in the United States.
Bill Evans “A complete life”
Bill Evans had an extraordinary life as a father and grandfather; as a Tribal Art and antique rug expert, dealer and collector, and as a friend to a vast and eclectic group of people spread across the globe.
Tibuta – Kinaakiia Ainen Kiribati: Tibuta – Identifies Kiribati Women Exhibition
Bottle Creek Gallery, Pātaka art + Museum, Porirua, Aotearoa New Zealand, 7 October - 11 November 2023. Catalogue published by Te Rabakau Press, 2023.
Chief Paul Yapmunggwiyo Kongi: A Legacy of Knowledge and Artistic Excellence c.1950-2024
Chief Paul Yapmunggwiyo Kongi, clan brother, chief of Mariwai Village and a master artist of the Kwoma people from the Sepik River region in Papua New Guinea has died in the same village where he spent his life serving his community as a teacher, magistrate, and storyteller.
Tiwi Islands objects: Early Dutch Entanglements and Maarten van Delft, 1705
When I mentioned in passing that I had attended the Pacific Art Association Europe annual meeting in Chartres, France, mid December 2023, the editor of this Journal immediately asked what were the highlights
The Yalaku — History and Warfare in the Middle Sepik
2023, 222 pages, by Ross Bowden, published by Sean Kingston Publishing, Canon Pyon, Herefordshire, UK. Review by Barry Craig Vol. 28,4 of the OAS Journal featured a review by Bill Rathmell of …
Te Ra: Navigating Home
Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, until Sunday 17 August 2025. Review by Margaret Cassidy Navigating Home is definitely the right title for this exhibition of cultural homecoming tucked into …
Mystery Object
By Timothy Pietsch, Manager, Wantok Place, North Adelaide (Museum of Papua New Guinea Artefacts) We have been doing some work at the Wantok Place museum in Adelaide having our collection assessed. …
We are the sea: Oceania: The Shape of Time
2023, pages, Maia Nuku, Met Publications, New York, Distributed by Yale University Press. Reviewed by Erin Vink (Ngiyampaa), Curator, First Nations art (local and global), AGNSW Oceania: The Shape of …
Fenoga Tāoga Niue I Aotearoa Niue Heritage Journey In Aotearoa
Pātaka art + Museum, Porirua, Aotearoa New Zealand. November 2023 - February 2024. Review by Margaret Cassidy Porirua (Māori: Pari-ā-Rua) is a small city in the Wellington Region of the …
Parcours 2023 Subjective
By Krisztina Turza Parcours week saw some unusually soaring temperatures, a contrast to the expected somewhat cool, often rainy September in Paris. This may have also contributed to the celebratory …
Tim Klingender (1964 – 2023)
Image courtesy Tim Klingender Fine Art. Renowned art dealer and authority on Aboriginal art and passionate fisherman, OAS member Tim Klingender, died in a tragic boating accident on 20 July …