‘untitled’ iteration #5
Bryony Matthew – Joint Winner 2025
This year I was selected to be a finalist at the Eden Arts Art Schools Award, and was one of 4 joint winners.
From Eden Arts website: “The following students were awarded Joint Winner prizes –
Darian Serrano (Whitecliffe), Danielle Chen (AUT), Bryony Matthew (Unitec) and Sihyun Kim (Elam).
In addition, Maraki Vowles (Elam) was presented with the Board’s Choice award.”
“Launched in 2011, this award is a collaborative venture with the major Central Auckland tertiary art institutions. It presents the very best student works from each of Elam, Unitec, AUT and Whitecliffe in a single exhibition, awarding cash prizes of up to $9000 to selected students. The award is open to full-time undergraduates. Five student entries are nominated by each school and judged by independent judges appointed by Eden Arts.
Our 2025 judges this year are Sue Gardiner MNZM, Chair of the Chartwell Trust, and Nathan Pōhio, artist and Senior Curator of Māori Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Artist Nicholas Pound presented the Board’s Choice award on behalf of the Eden Arts Board. “
Artist statement:
Working across objet trouvè and painting, I am interested in scarcity and specificity, and the signs of human-use embedded in patina. Reimagining each object with consideration for of the visually available history, I use the objects “as found”, embracing the tactile nature of the desaturated palette and textures manufactured by time, human-use, and the elements. “Painting with object” is how I describe the process of constructing these works. Each material or painting is placed into compositions according to an intuitive urge, a somatic process bringing together memory, colour, and a precipice-dwelling moment of making.
Loose painterly forms emerge from the compositions and speak directly to the small textured paintings which inhabit the works as integral companion pieces.
One informing the next in a quiet feedback loop.
Each installation of the works is site specific, and reflects the importance of our individual experience in an increasingly chaotic world.
The other Unitec finalists were :
