Kerikeri glass and ceramics artist Sue Hawker won the Ranamok Glass Awards with her first Pate de verre work in the popular series Too Much is Never Enough, last year.
It is one of a dozen works which make up her show Florescentia, on the ground floor of the Church Ln gallery.
Gallery manager Maurice Watson said yesterday Hawker combined a variety of techniques, including glass casting, etching, sandblasting and engraving. Her "positive and exuberant" works had an "astonishing complexity and remarkable presence".
Hawker said in a statement the single thread running through her work was people.
Florescentia was no different, she said.
"The glum moods of some of my friends sparked this entire body of work. They were dispirited, reeling from effects of our economic recession. Florescentia - initially one work titled Too Much is Never Enough - is a deliberate collective of cheerfulness to help ease their sadness."
Masterton watercolourist Paul Martinson provided 10 artworks for his exhibition upstairs titled Dream Swimmers.
The former science technician for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research was commissioned by Te Papa Tongarewa to paint New Zealand's extinct birds. His works were published as Extinct Birds of New Zealand, in 2006.
Mr Watson said Martinson's "exciting and rich use of watercolours" ask viewers to question the relationship between what is real and what is not.
Artworks in Sue Hawker: Florescentia ranged from $4500 to $6500, while works in Paul Martinson: Dream Swimmer ranged from $6500 to $7500.
- The exhibitions run in Milford Galleries Queenstown until June 29.
