Gallery owner Pauline Bianchi said grand dresses, trees and bird's nests represent a strong nurturing figure - nests cradle the eggs, the tree cradles the nest and the mannequin represents the female.
''The products that Mandy applies are all added in a series of layers, giving them an almost vintage antique look as if they have been stored away in an attic somewhere waiting to be rediscovered, waiting to have the dust erased once again in the home that they belong in.
"After all, the home and garden is a nurturing place.''
Emerson was highly commended in the mixed media section of the National Women's Art Exhibition and won the New Zealand Affordable Art Trust Signature Award.
She has sold more than 60 pieces in the NZ Art Show over five years and she won the show's inaugural Signature Award, a people's choice prize, in 2009.
Ms Bianchi said anyone visiting the gallery upstairs in the Mountaineer building until January 5 can enter a draw to win one of Emerson's original works.
