Artist Statement

Through SaltSpray Design, I create sculptural and painted works that tell contemporary Canadian stories through a folk-art lens. Rooted in the Atlantic coast and reaching across the country, my flagship works weave animals, landscapes, weather, and symbols into single forms, where a moose carries the sky in its antlers, a hare holds a lighthouse in its spine, and humour walks hand in hand with reverence.
My work is not decorative in the passive sense. It is meant to be lived with. Like a favourite pair of worn-in Vans, these pieces are familiar, expressive, and grounded in everyday life. They invite touch, recognition, and a quiet smile. I believe art should create a point of connection between people and place, between nature and modern life, between memory and imagination.
Each piece is a self-contained story, built to spark reflection, belonging, and lightness. Function, form, and narrative coexist. My work doesn’t just fill space; it carries atmosphere. It offers a pause, a smile, a sense that the land itself is still speaking and that we are allowed to listen with joy.

Biography

Originally from South Africa, Anthea Taljaard’s artistic journey began with a lifelong fascination with the ocean and the natural world. Growing up surrounded by vast landscapes and shifting coastlines, she developed an intuitive relationship with colour, texture, and rhythm, a sensibility that continues to shape her work today.
Now based on the Atlantic coast of Canada, Anthea is the founder of SaltSpray Design, working from her studio in the historic 150-year-old St. Barnabas Church in Nova Scotia. The space itself reflects her practice: layered, storied, and deeply connected to place. Here, history and contemporary making meet, and large-scale papier-mâché sculpture, ceramics, and painting come together under one roof.
Anthea’s Canadian flagship works draw inspiration from the land and animals of this country, not as symbols frozen in time, but as living characters embedded with sky, water, architecture, and movement. Her work explores nature, womanhood, resilience, humour, and the quiet poetry of everyday life. There is playfulness here, but also care. Each piece is built to endure, visually and emotionally.
For Anthea, art is never just an object. It is a conversation. A moment of calm. A reminder that beauty, humour, and meaning can coexist.
“I want my art to live with you, not just hang on your wall, and if it makes you smile even once, then it’s doing its job.”