You have reached the home page of Oceanic Art Pty Ltd, a new website devoted to the Sepik art of the Pacific. Oceanic Art is the publisher of a new series of high quality ethnographies on the art of different Oceanic societies. We are also in the process of establishing an online gallery.

CREATIVE SPIRITS - OUT OF PRINT

The Pacific Islands are the source of some of the world’s most distinctive visual art. Some of the greatest derives from the Sepik River of Papua New Guinea.
We are pleased to announce the publication of the first book in our new series on the art of this region: Dr. Ross Bowden’s Creative Spirits: bark painting in the Washkuk Hills of north New Guinea.
The art of painting on bark is found in many parts of the Pacific but apart from Australia it has been largely overlooked by anthropologists. Dr. Bowden’s richly illustrated book is an in-depth study of the bark painting tradition of the Kwoma, a people in the Washkuk Hills of the East Sepik Province. It is the first full-length ethnographic analysis of this art form for any New Guinea society.

"This book is the product of an enviable depth of field research and scholarship and is a model for what others might do with their field observations of the material culture and art of New Guinea societies." Dr. Barry Craig, Curator of Oceanic Art, Museum of South Australia "The book is one of those publications which belong in every anthropological museum library as a source and reference work." Dr. Burkhard Fenner, Curator for Oceanic Cultures, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum of Ethnography, Cologne.