Dell Pryor – Sculptor
Dell Pryor from Dells Art was commissioned by Creative Northland on behalf of NorthChamber to create the trophies for the 2023 Northland Business Excellence Awards.
Dell is a self taught artist who began her career 30 years ago, sculpting portraits. One of her earliest is a portrait of Sir Robert Muldoon, who sat for her not long before he passed away. During the sitting he was reading Dame Whina Cooper’s bio and strongly suggested a portrait should be done of her. So Dame Whina Cooper is also amongst Pryor’s formative work.
Dell graduated towards life size realism of torso and full figured studies in clay and bronze.
The past few years have primarily been spent creating smaller figurative pieces and works studying endangered animals. Occasionally she does larger work including free standing whale tails and partial life size figures intended for outdoor situations.
Most recently Dell has worked collaboratively with fellow artists and friend Susan Dinkerlacker to produce a life sized bronze of local bird rescue man, Robert Webb, releasing an albatross off the front of a coast guard boat. It was unveiled around six weeks ago, where it resides at the Tutukaka marina greens.
Pryor still works for commissions as well as for exhibitions. She currently has several works on show at the biannual Sculpture on Shore show in Devonport.
Her work has been purchased for collections in New Zealand and abroad.
About the Category Winner Trophies 
The circle of the disc represents the underlying unity all business ventures, with the centre of the disc symbolising excellence. The koru, flowing from the outer edges to the core, portrays the journey toward excellence within the business sector, and the individual sections within the disc not only represents diversity and interdependence within business but also contribute to the forward movement striving for excellence.
Echoes of nature and an awareness of sustainability: All elements of this award echo nature from which all abundance springs and which is a precious resource we’re learning how to manage responsibility. The texture on the disc represents variety as mentioned above, but it also represents our fortunate position as a coastal city, and is inspired by corals and barnacles. The base is also in keeping within that theme.
