Oil, raw pigment, acrylic on canvas 
The straights connecting Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Seas....Turkey and Greece. Ancient pastoral lands on the islands surrounded by ancient rhythmic seas.

Bosphorus Straights

Oil, raw pigment, enamel on oil primed linen 
38x38" (97x97cm) 
When sperm whales need a nap, they take a deep breath, dive down about 45 feet and arrange themselves into perfectly-level, vertical patterns. They sleep sound and still for up to two hours at a time between breaths, in pods of 5 or 6 whales, presumably for protection. No one knew whales slept vertically until a 2008 study documented the behaviour. And no one captured a really good photo of it in the wild until 2017. French photographer Stephane Granzotto was documenting sperm whales in the Mediterranean for his book on the creatures when he came across sleeping whales. I was very moved by this information, and beauty of nature, enough so to paint from a photograph of Stephane's. I don't usually paint from a photo…

Sperm Whales Napping

Oil, raw pigment, enamel on linen canvas 
When sperm whales need a nap, they take a deep breath, dive down about 45 feet and arrange themselves into perfectly-level, vertical patterns. They sleep sound and still for up to two hours at a time between breaths, in pods of 5 or 6 whales, presumably for protection. No one knew whales slept vertically until a 2008 study documented the behaviour. And no one captured a really good photo of it in the wild until 2017. French photographer Stephane Granzotto was documenting sperm whales in the Mediterranean for his book on the creatures when he came across sleeping whales. I was very moved by this information, and inspired by these majestic whales.

Sleeping Whales

Oil, gold/copper leaf, ink on canvas 
Oracle bones were a means of divining information about the future. During the Shang Dynasty they were used by Kings to inquire about war, crops, marriages, deaths etc. The cleaned plastron of a turtle or oxen was heated to cracking. Philosophers then read the cracks to discern the answers to the questions asked. I find ancient means of communication fascinating, especially in todays world of media. The piece hangs like a scroll. I chose this method as in ancient texts such as the tora, it can be rolled. In researching oracle bones, the turtle plastrons, I found each so unique and beautiful in their living state - then transformed to tablets, that I have intermingled the living with the dead in the image.

The Oracle Bones

Oil, metal leaf, ink on canvas 
Oracle bones were a means of divining information about the future. During the Shang Dynasty they were used by Kings to inquire about war, crops, marriages, deaths etc. The cleaned plastron of a turtle or oxen was heated to cracking. Philosophers then read the cracks to discern the answers to the questions asked. I find ancient means of communication fascinating, especially in todays world of media. The piece hangs like a scroll. I chose this method as in ancient texts such as the tora, it can be rolled. In researching oracle bones, the turtle plastrons, I found each so unique and beautiful in their living state - then transformed to tablets, that I have intermingled the living with the dead in the image.

The Oracle Bones 1-12

Oil, copper/silver leaf, ink on canvas 
Oracle bones were a means of divining information about the future. During the Shang Dynasty they were used by Kings to inquire about war, crops, marriages, deaths etc. The cleaned plastron of a turtle or oxen was heated to cracking. Philosophers then read the cracks to discern the answers to the questions asked. I find ancient means of communication fascinating, especially in todays world of media. The piece hangs like a scroll. I chose this method as in ancient texts such as the tora, it can be rolled. In researching oracle bones, the turtle plastrons, I found each so unique and beautiful in their living state - then transformed to tablets, that I have intermingled the living with the dead in the image.

Oil, copper/gold leaf, raw pigment, ink on canvas 
Oracle bones were a means of divining information about the future. During the Shang Dynasty they were used by Kings to inquire about war, crops, marriages, deaths etc. The cleaned plastron of a turtle or oxen was heated to cracking. Philosophers then read the cracks to discern the answers to the questions asked. I find ancient means of communication fascinating, especially in todays world of media. The piece hangs like a scroll. I chose this method as in ancient texts such as the tora, it can be rolled. In researching oracle bones, the turtle plastrons, I found each so unique and beautiful in their living state - then transformed to tablets, that I have intermingled the living with the dead in the image.

THE ORACLE BONES

Oil, copper/gold/silver leaf, ink on canvas 
Oracle bones were a means of divining information about the future. During the Shang Dynasty they were used by Kings to inquire about war, crops, marriages, deaths etc. The cleaned plastron of a turtle or oxen was heated to cracking. Philosophers then read the cracks to discern the answers to the questions asked. I find ancient means of communication fascinating, especially in todays world of media. The piece hangs like a scroll. I chose this method as in ancient texts such as the tora, it can be rolled. In researching oracle bones, the turtle plastrons, I found each so unique and beautiful in their living state - then transformed to tablets, that I have intermingled the living with the dead in the image.

Oil, copper/gold leaf, ink on canvas 
Oracle bones were a means of divining information about the future. During the Shang Dynasty they were used by Kings to inquire about war, crops, marriages, deaths etc. The cleaned plastron of a turtle or oxen was heated to cracking. Philosophers then read the cracks to discern the answers to the questions asked. I find ancient means of communication fascinating, especially in todays world of media. The piece hangs like a scroll. I chose this method as in ancient texts such as the tora, it can be rolled. In researching oracle bones, the turtle plastrons, I found each so unique and beautiful in their living state - then transformed to tablets, that I have intermingled the living with the dead in the image.

Oil, gold/silver leaf, ink, raw pigment on canvas 
Oracle bones were a means of divining information about the future. During the Shang Dynasty they were used by Kings to inquire about war, crops, marriages, deaths etc. The cleaned plastron of a turtle or oxen was heated to cracking. Philosophers then read the cracks to discern the answers to the questions asked. I find ancient means of communication fascinating, especially in todays world of media. The piece hangs like a scroll. I chose this method as in ancient texts such as the tora, it can be rolled. In researching oracle bones, the turtle plastrons, I found each so unique and beautiful in their living state - then transformed to tablets, that I have intermingled the living with the dead in the image.

THE ORALE BONES

Oil, raw pigment, ink on canvas 
triptych, each panel 46 x 32 
This painting, part of a triptych, represents the fluid Aegean. On my first arrival in Palm Springs after years away from the USA, my heart was still on Naxos. I painted this memory of the Aegean floating yet in my mind, Palm Springs desert floor being the antithesis of this fluidity (thank the gods for the weather there and the 360 degree surround of mountains.....). This triptych was painted for an exhibition with Stanislav Khristenko, the Russian concert pianist, to be placed behind him and his piano during his performance.

Rhapsody In Blue (triptych)

Oil, raw pigment, ink on canvas 
(triptych) each panel 46 x 32 
This painting, part of a triptych, represents the fluid Aegean. On my first arrival in Palm Springs after years away from the USA, my heart was still on Naxos. I painted this memory of the Aegean floating yet in my mind, Palm Springs desert floor being the antithesis of this fluidity (thank the gods for the weather there and the 360 degree surround of mountains.....). This triptych was painted for an exhibition with Stanislav Khristenko, the Ukrainian concert pianist, to be placed behind him and his piano during his performance.

Oil, raw pigment, ink on canvas 
(triptych) each panel 46 x 32 
This painting, part of a triptych, represents the fluid Aegean. On my first arrival in Palm Springs after years away from the USA, my heart was still on Naxos. I painted this memory of the Aegean floating yet in my mind, Palm Springs desert floor being the antithesis of this fluidity (thank the gods for the weather there and the 360 degree surround of mountains.....). This triptych was painted for an exhibition with Stanislav Khristenko , the Ukrainian concert pianist, to be placed behind him and his piano during his performance.

Oil, ink, raw pigment on canvas 
Between worlds is 'the fine line between two worlds'..... the artist has painted a fluidity of lines and shapes that connote a fish, a claw foot, bubbles of air. She has created a field of flow between reality and abstraction.

Between Worlds

Oil, raw pigment, ink, acrylic on canvas 
I live on Naxos Island in the Aegean.The sea is my life blood. The profundity of the Aegean Sea existing and flourishing for thousands of years, supporting the Kycladic islands and the people living on them, is the life blood of the islands . The Aegean Sea is magnificent in color. It is turquoise, midnight blue, transparent blue topaz. There is a magical energy field where the artist lives and works on Naxos Island and therefore her artworks suggest this element of water in many of her pieces. Aegean Blood came about as the artist was traveling to the USA for an exhibition in Palm Springs, CA. She wanted to 'bring the sea with her'. As a result the artwork was suspended, unframed, with fishing lines from the ceiling so that the movement of water would be felt by the movement of the canvas itself.

Aegean Blood

American artist Sherri Bustad has lived and worked on Naxos Island in Greece for the past 23 years. The island with it's ancient pastoral lands bordering the sea ripe with blues for miles and mystic creatures such as whales and turtles is far from her landlocked homeland of Minnesota in the USA. However growing up with 10,000 lakes created a bond for a land/water existence, settling on an island - leading to her recent exhibition PRIMORDIAL SYMMETRY.  Sherri Bustad has created an exhibition of cetaceans, turtle plastrons and the sea that evoke pyromantic colours of land and water on canvas. The exhibition features among sperm whales, turtle plastrons which were used as a means of divining information about the future during the Shang Dynasty. They were used by Kings to inquire about war, crops, marriages, deaths etc. The cleaned plastron of a turtle or oxen was heated to cracking. Philosophers then read the cracks to discern the answers to the questions asked. "I find ancient means of communication fascinating, especially in today's world of media content. In ancient times turtle plastrons were transformed into tablets inscribed with ancient Chinese text. Whales communicate in complex clicks, whistles and pulses, we humans text on cell phones".