As a dual citizen, American and British, with a parent on each side of the Atlantic, printmaker Oceana Masterman-Smith grew up always moving; some years in the Vermont countryside, with snow, maple leaves and summers swimming, others hiking the English South Downs or adventuring in the hustle and bustle of London. Having lived in three different countries, and in more homes than she could keep count of, at 17 years old Oceana decided to make the United Kingdom her permanent home, and after finishing her A Level education in West Sussex, she moved to London to pursue her dreams of being an artist.
Oceana completed a Bachelors in Fine Art in 2011, but, after graduating, found it hard to stay motivated. She comments; “I had always wanted to be an artist at heart, but I convinced myself that I would never be as good as my peers and decided to channel my creativity into other areas.” Oceana then completed a Masters in Museum and Gallery Studies, with the aim to work as a full-time curator.
She then went on to co-found The Baldwin Gallery in London, representing contemporary artists and specialising in Canadian First Nations art and international environmental art, curating, procuring and consulting for museums, cultural institutions, arts organisations and collectors in the UK and abroad. “My job at The Baldwin kept me feeling connected creatively, and most of my day-to-day work included design, something which I have always loved,” says Oceana. Sadly, The Baldwin closed in 2019, when the government reneged on the owner’s visa.
In the following year, she continued curating in a freelance capacity. In collaboration with the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham, Oceana opened her first big freelance project, As Immense as The Sky; a solo exhibition of First Nations Canadian Photographer Meryl McMaster at Canada House in Trafalgar Square. She states; “After two years of planning, it couldn’t have come at a worse time: we opened one week before lockdown was announced. All of my future projects were put on hold indefinitely, and any art-related work disappeared. I went on to tailor As Immense as The Sky for an online audience, with both the Canadian Embassy in London and the Embassy in Washington DC, but, outside of virtual space, the exhibition was never able to be seen by the public.”
“The pandemic was a bleak time for me, and it wasn’t until life regained some normalcy that I was able to go back to any type of creative work – something I had been desperately missing,” says Oceana. In 2022, after working for an Australian Aboriginal art gallery, she decided to start afresh again; “Ignoring all my problems I decided to spend a summer travelling with my incredible mother, culminating in a 2500 mile road trip, in a car with two border collies and a house-worth’s of stuff from British Columbia across the States, ending in the New Mexican desert.”
Having not picked up a paintbrush or practised much creativity for many years, it was largely a fluke that Oceana found printmaking. Inspired by a printmaker on Instagram, she ordered a “shoddy” linocut kit from Amazon and decided to make a birthday card for her father. She started carving, and couldn’t stop. Oceana then invested whatever money she could afford into buying better tools and expensive paper. “I had a lot to learn about printmaking and I made a lot if mistakes at first, but here I am a year later, making a part of my living from my own artwork, with the occasional freelance design job thrown in,” describes the printmaker.
Back when she was at university Oceana’s, artwork had a dark undertone, often depicting drawings of decapitated heads and sad expressions. A decade later, her art is full of joy; it sings with the birds she has watched soaring, the snowy owls in Vermont and the English swallows. All of her prints are carved by hand on traditional grey lino, and printed either by hand or on a small press in her studio.
Oceana concludes; “I sleep deeper now that I am art-making; I am less anxious, and I feel like I am just better, better than before….If you can take something from my small story, I’d like it to be a reminder to trust yourself and not wait. Do what makes you happy.”
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