This year’s premier award at the Zonta Ashburton Women’s Art Awards has been won by Miranda Parkes, for her colourful work dreamchaser.

Beneath the painted surface, the support of this work is a weighty industrial shipping pallet and the judges said Miranda’s entry stood out from the start.

Award winners were announced last week at Rokowhiria, the Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum, which is now hosting an exhibition of entries in the awards.

Director Shirin Khosraviani said she was heartened to see the awards reach a 10-year milestone, and it remained unique in New Zealand for its focus solely on emerging to mid-career women artists.

There were a total of 84 entries this year, with 23 finalists selected for the Premier Award, while 23 featured in the Young Generation Award, for those aged 16-20 years.

Judges Anna McLean, Bridie Lonie and Kim Pieters said the entries were diverse and exciting.

Anna said Miranda Parkes’ work dreamchaser provided a refreshing escape, that was hopeful and joyous.

“The support pallet’s three-dimensional face, covered with ridges and indentations, offers a highly textured surface. Parkes navigates the topography of this surface—sometimes following the concave valleys or convex protrusions, sometimes departing from them in organic, overlapping pools. Once an object of industrial service, dreamchaser now inhabits the space of art, drawing attention to the way we place value on objects.”

Miranda also won $4000 and an opportunity to create a solo exhibition at Rokowhiria in 2027.

The Young Generation Award went to Georgia Swale for her painting Wairua. The judges described the work as having a ‘strong sense of self, and a clear creative direction into the future.’ They also noted the work’s connections to both Georgia’s Pākehā and Māori whakapapa, which they described as thoughtful and timely.

The ZAWAA awards exhibition will be on display until 19 April and visitors to the gallery are encouraged to choose their favourite artwork for the People’s Choice award.

The awards exhibition is delivered through a partnership between the Zonta Club of Ashburton and Rokowhiria, and generously supported by the following local organisations: Ashburton District Creative Communities, Forsyth Barr, ANZ Private Banking, Scorpio Books, Bushey Park Trust, Everist Gilchrist Lawyers, Samantha Rose Flowers, The Rabbit Ashburton, Kate Murney, Barkers Foodstore, Liquorland Racecourse Rd, and Tricroft Properties.