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The 2025 Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards marked their 11th year, continuing to celebrate artistic talent across the region and New Zealand.
Hosted at the Estuary Arts Centre, the annual event showcases a diverse range of artworks from both emerging and established New Zealand artists.
The awards are supported by the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board and alternate annually between the Mairangi Arts Centre and the Estuary Arts Centre. They aim to foster creativity and provide artists with opportunities for recognition and exposure.
This year’s judges were Dina Jezdic and Holly Aymes, and all the entries are on exhibition at the Centre until April 27, where visitors can vote for the People’s Choice award, which will be announced at the end of the exhibition.
The 2025 Outstanding Artist Awards, accompanied by a $1000 prize,
were awarded to:
• Jocelyn Friis for Take Me Home to Where the Rivers Flow (acrylic)
• Chris Wadsworth for Racing Porsche 911’s on Scalextric (cast acrylic, resin, pigment)
The Patron’s Award went to Sue Hill for her acrylic piece Roll Over Don Quixote.
Sandy Gaskell received the Māori Art Award for No 8 Wire, an acrylic work reflecting a sense of place and belonging in Aotearoa.
The Youth Art Award was presented to Amber Boyd for Shades of Blue, an oil on card painting.
Merit Awards were awarded to the following artists:
• Cheong Hong for Girl 2023 (oil on canvas)
• Talia Russell for Hooker Valley to Mt Cook (screenprint)
• Teresa Hall
• Gail Smith for Watercolour Bowl (ceramics)
Mangawhai resident Jocelyn Friis says she comes home when she paints, not just the physical location of being at home, but that feeling of comfort.
Her home in Mangawhai is surrounded by nature and the flow of water, and when she starts on a piece her worries dissolve, she says. That’s what she enjoys the most about art: letting the flow state take over and getting lost in her creation process.
“Art is healing,” she says.
Her winning piece is about returning to the sensation of being at home; that feeling of a deep breath in, and a deep breath out.
For both the artist and the viewer, Jocelyn believes that art is all about connection. The first connection of the artist to the piece they’re painting, then the connection others make when they see the result.
Although thrilled by her win, she emphasised how “beautiful” the other works were. Jocelyn says anyone can be an artist if they have the drive.
Wellsford resident Sue Hill has never looked at art as a direct process. For her, it isn’t a pen to paper, or a brush to paint but rather a story told through her personal lens.
Sue has also started learning how to use different mediums to tell her story: physical art, song, and, most recently, video creation and animation.
Her piece was described by EAC patron Gill Gatfield as having “a sense of frenetic energy, emphasising movement and instability.”
Sue says she is grateful for the exhibition as a showcase for art and inspiring creative production.
