Sallie Harker was born in England in 1964 and grew up in Scotland. Sallie studied sculpture in Gloucestershire before sailing to Antigua in 1987 where she has lived ever since with her husband and two children, Theodore and Mehalah. In 2007 Sallie opened the Fig Tree Studio Art Gallery. Sallies makes sculpture by commission for specific spaces.
Sallie experiments with different media and enjoys using oils, watercolour and printmaking. Over the last few years she has developed a technique using gold leaf and oil paints on wooden shingles. She mainly depicts birds and marine life, however is also inspired by Caribbean life and loves to draw portraits and landscapes.
Gold Leaf and Oil Paint on Wood.
Limited edition drypoint etching
Gold Leaf and Oil on Wood
Wood cut print with mixed media
Ink on Paper
Limited Edition Screen Print on Paper
Watercolour and Ink on Paper
Jo is a painter and printmaker. She uses various printmaking techniques including woodcut, silkscreen and drypoint etching, often combining them to produce her unique prints. The love she has for Antigua is reflected in her collections of local flora and fauna that are set into her vibrant Cyanotypes.
Cyanotype
Cyanotype
Cyanotype
Bequia artist Jacob Scott makes baskets, vessels and hats from recycled beach rope. Each is hand-sewn and can take months to create.
Recycled Beach Rope
Recycled Beach Rope
Recycled Beach Rope
Mehalah Spencer is a young artist born and raised on the island of Antigua, specialising in limited edition linocuts. She is the daughter of Sallie Harker (owner of the Fig Tree Studio). Her passion for linocuts started at school where she first learnt to carve, later going on to develop her skills spending time with a family friend and established English artist James Dodds.
Her work depicts typical Caribbean scenes representative of her life growing up in Antigua; mainly of sailing boats and chattel houses. Her signature colour to print in, is a dark ultramarine blue. Currently studying Biochemistry at the University of Warwick, all her profits are going towards paying for her studies.
Limited Edition Lino Print on Paper
Limited Edition Lino Print on Paper
Limited Edition Lino Print on Paper
Limited Edition Lino Print on Paper
Chloe Tickner studied Fine Art BA in the UK and has been regularly visiting Antigua, with her family, since she was a child. She has always been inspired by the bright colourful architecture on the island and, combining this with her job as a sign painter, she began capturing the views with drawings, linocuts and enamel paintings on wood.
Enamel on Wood
Enamel on Wood
Enamel on wood
Enamel on Wood
Limited Edition Multi-block Linoprint
Born in Nairn, Scotland in 1955, Charlie Baird studied at the Instituto Allende, San Miguel, Mexico and Wimbledon School of Art, London. From 1983-85 he attended the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. Since his first solo exhibition at the Crane Kalman Gallery in 1977, he has had solo exhibitions in London, Europe and America.
Baird regularly visits his family on the island of Antigua. Whilst here, and on visits to other Caribbean islands, he enjoys capturing scenes of local life in vivacious oil paintings.
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
Born in Canada, Naydene studied at the OCAD University in Toronto and Florence, Italy where she graduated with honors in the figurative discipline.
“I create my pieces in a process that involves layering, collaging, glazing and painting elements together. I then destroy certain parts of the image by stripping away some of the layers to reveal contradiction techniques. I work with a blend of beeswax and oil paint, known as encaustic, which gives a beautiful texture and depth of colour to my work."
Multimedia on Canvas
Mixed media on canvas
Janet Harker has been a frequent visitor to Antigua since 1989. She was trained in England at Birmingham College of Art and The Royal College of Art in London. She worked in design offices in Denmark and London until she had children and from then on as a freelance designer and textile artist. Her work can be found in private and public collections worldwide.
She has always found pleasure in drawing and painting watercolours and found Antigua abundant in interesting subjects, particularly old buildings, wildlife and beautiful flowers.
Limited Edition Etching
Limited Edition Etching
Limited Edition Etching
Watercolour on Paper
Watercolour on Paper
Watercolour on Paper
After graduating with honors from The Ringling School of Art, Erickson became an accomplished drawing instructor, potter and jewellery designer. From early on, the artist's personal focus has been the creative contemplation of the human form. This remains at the heart of her authority, while the exploration of light and bold colour always infuses her work.
Ericsson's love of figurative painting was renewed on her first visit to the West Indies in 1979. She was beguiled by the magical, unsinkable Islands. The saturated colours and swaying people inspired a new rhythm in her work. Her vision of Island society, distinguished by her 'coup de crayon', has quickly brought her numerous exhibitions and international collectors.
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
In 1989 Maiwenn gained an art degree at the University of Northumberland, UK. She later went to the Mediterranean where she trained as a stewardess and later as a chef. Trained as both an experienced sailor and artist, Maiwenn started to paint watercolors seriously, using local boats and landscapes as her inspiration. Recently she has been inspired by the tropical flowers in her garden and so we feel privileged to have this new series of paintings at the Fig Tree Studio.
Acrylic on Canvas
Acrylic on Canvas
Acrylic on Canvas
Acrylic on Canvas
Nzimbu Browne is self-taught and creates artwork using fibres which are carefully selected from banana trees. He wanders across the fertile earth of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to find his medium. He does his collages with dried banana leaves of different colours and shades in a little road side kiosk near his home. Nzimbu's work is full of tradition, history and heritage.
In his work he wants to express festive patterns of life, stories of culture and of people struggling for self determination. His pictures of everyday life scenes of St Vincent and the Grenadines are lively and full of movement.
Banana Tree Fibres
Banana Tree Fibres
Banana Tree Fibres
Banana Tree Fibre
Banana Tree Fibres
Carmen Miller is an Australian artist and silk painter from Melbourne who sailed to Antigua in 2013 and is based in English Harbour today. Each of her pieces are hand painted, each one is unique.
Her work is inspired by the beautiful nature of Antigua and Barbuda and it's surrounding islands. She vibrantly represents leaves, coral, birds and flowers in her scarves. A special collection was made for Fig Tree Studio Art Gallery, which were inspired by the surrounding tropical flowers.
Hand Painted Silk
Hand Painted Silk
Hand Painted Silk
Hand Painted Silk
Hand Painted Silk
Gilly moved to Antigua in 1984, seizing the opportunity to live abroad and to fulfil her childhood dream of painting full time. Whilst bringing up her three young children, she slowly developed her painting techniques, mainly in watercolour and acrylic. Her subjects reflect beauty and charm of the enchanted island of Antigua and to this day, inspiration is never lacking.
Watercolour on Paper
Watercolour and Pencil on Paper
Petros Meaza was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he studied at the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Art. He then went on to complete International Artist Resident Training Programs in Paris, France. Following this he moved to the Caribbean island of Dominica, where he taught as an Art Instructor for the Ministry of Education. He is now pursuing a PhD in Fine Art (Painting) in Montreal, Canada.
"I favour the impressionist style of painting and I consequently use irregular splotches and spontaneous knife and brush strokes. My paintings evoke the spirit of Africa with vivid colours and frequent use of traditional African symbolism. I enjoy showing movement in my paintings. For instance, some of my art works depict dancers with energetic and continuous movements."
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
Katie left California in 1985 to "go sailing" and settled in Antigua. She started Seahorse Studios, supplying Graphic Design facilities for the local businesses and yachting communities.
Katie's favourite medium is Prismacolour Pencils, which afford her drawings an incredible amount of detail. She also works in Acrylic paints. Her subject matter span from her pets, to portraits of birds and dogs, to native Island and underwater life.
Acrylic on Canvas
Acrylic on Canvas
Acrylic on Canvas
Acrylic on Canvas