Dunedin artist Jasmine Middlebrook has won the City of Dunedin Art Awards for 2011.
Judged by Hocken Library pictorial collections curator Natalie Poland, the awards, which included ceramics and jewellery for the first time, were presented by the Otago Art Society and Dunedin City Council at the Dunedin Railway Station gallery last night.
Ms Middlebrook (24), who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Otago Polytechnic School of Art in 2010, was awarded first prize for her oil on canvas Now I'm Not So Sure.
"It's overwhelming. I'm at an opening [for my work] at De Novo right now as well. This is a huge night."
The win was her fourth in national and local competitions in the past year and she believed it validated the work she was doing.
"The reception I've got from the public is an overwhelming experience. I can't believe it."
Ms Poland described Miss Middlebrook as an "artist skilled in her craft but also not afraid to take risks" and noted her exploration of using different thicknesses of paint with highly finished "incredibly life-like faces".
"It is an artist's conundrum - at what point is a painting ever finished?"
The exhibition of works opens to the public today at the Otago Art Society at Dunedin Railway Station.
Other awards.-
Second: Madeline Child Gorse getting away, ceramic; Third: Olav Nielsen Fire mezzotint; Merit: Rod Eales Shadows of Then acrylic on paper; Mayor's choice: Nicole Kolig Universe ceramic.
