Bachelor of Design and Contemporary Arts ākonga Bryony Matthew (pictured above middle) was one of five joint winners announced in this year’s Eden Arts Art Schools Awards held at Webb’s Gallery, in Mt Eden on Friday.
The annual awards are a collaborative venture with the major Auckland tertiary art institutions, presenting the very best student works from each of the top arts schools in Tāmaki Makaurau at a single exhibition.
Bryony’s success continues a proud tradition of Unitec success at these awards with our ākonga taking out three of the five top awards in 2024.
Head of School, Dr Vanessa Byrnes said it was a “fantastic achievement” which reaffirmed Unitec’s status as one of the country’s top arts schools.
Bryony was one of the ākonga from the School of Creative Industries named to represent the institution at the 2025 Awards.
Her work ‘untitled’ iteration #5 caught the eye of this year’s judges: Sue Gardiner MNZM, Chair of the Chartwell Trust, and Nathan Pohio, artist and Senior Curator of Maori Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
Bryony is an abstract artist who works across object and painting. She is interested in scarcity and specificity, the tension of the spaces between objects, and the signs of human-use embedded in patina.
Bryony Matthew has exhibited across both painting and sculpture since 2007 and will complete her BDCA with us next month.
The joint winners for the 2025 Eden Arts Awards were: Darian Serrano (Whitecliffe), Danielle Chen (AUT), Bryony Matthew (Unitec) and Sihyun Kim (Elam).
In addition, Maraki Vowells (Elam) was presented with the Board’s Choice award.
The public exhibition of the student works at Webb’s closed on Monday following the artist talks held on Sunday.
For more information on the Eden Arts Awards: https://www.edenarts.art/events/art-schools-award
