Ms Tanya Ashken, of Wellington, ONZM for services to sculpture, silversmithing and jewellery
Tanya Ashken emigrated to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in 1963, having studied silversmithing in London. Born deaf, she was the youngest person to acquire a silversmithing hallmark at age 13 in the early 1950s. She came to the fore in New Zealand as a jeweller and sculptor in the 1960s. The New Zealand Arts Council commissioned her to produce a pendant for HRH Princess Anne on her 1970 tour of New Zealand. Her work is represented in public galleries around the country, as well as universities, court houses, civic buildings, churches and parks, in addition to several works on display in Australia and China. Ms Ashken’s abstract sculpture ‘Albatross’ was unveiled on the Wellington waterfront in 1986 and led to the creation of the Wellington Sculpture Trust.