Available Work by Shary Bartlett

There are few movements more beautiful and mesmerizing than the fluid waves of water, seaweed, and Jellyfish; British Columbia is home to about 75 of the world’s species of Jellyfish. Globally, populations of jellyfish have skyrocketed over the last 20 years due to rising greenhouse gases and warming oceans, causing increasing Jellyfish and seaweed “blooms" worldwide which are having devastating effects on microbial and marine life ecosystems. The patterns they cast are microcosmic harbingers of macroscopic issues.

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“If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.” ― Buddha

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The biomorphic forms that emerge from the scientific interactions of fluid ink, encaustic wax, gravity and flame - is like an alchemical reaction that generates painted images almost independently, yet in cooperation with the hand of the artist.  This image floats equally between the worlds of land and marine, drawing floral connections between the two.

Swelling from seed to bud to magnificent blossom, acorns and flowers symbolize the promise of metamorphosis.

“Camouflage,” alludes to the biological adaptions we are currently witnessing among marine, animal, human and plant growth as a result of environmental and climate change. Like an amoeba that literally emerges three-dimensionally from the encaustic surface, this undersea-like, cellular form seems to be mutating, micro- and macroscopic metaphors for the dynamic and inexorable nature of growth, disease, evolution and decay.

While creating these encaustic sculptural paintings- waxy, melted micro-dot by dot - the artist layers unconscious emotions, sentiments and experiences into the work. Both in their creation and design, these surreal and abstract paintings are a crossover of science, art, and personal human experience.

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In their fragile beauty, flowers symbolize renewal and remind us of the wonder, resilience, and fortitude of creation and growth.

All nature, beings, and things are subject to change. Cycles of birth to death, wellness to disease, wholeness to brokenness – indeed life itself is a changing process of transformation, transfiguration, and metamorphosis.