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Supreme rural winner is all kinds of artist
Farming and art are close to the heart of Amelia Dunbar, supreme winner of this year’s Rural Women NZ Business Awards. She spoke to Annette Scott.
THE arts came up trumps for Amelia Dunbar in the Rural Women New Zealand and NZI 2022 Business Awards.
Operating a rural entertainment business and working as an artist from her home in the Canterbury high country, Dunbar is known to rural New Zealanders as one half of the comedy duo The Bitches’ Box.
Under her maiden name, Amelia Guild, she is also a visual artist. Her excellence in the two fields of endeavour won her the creative arts category in the awards – before she went on to head off the six other category finalists to be crowned overall supreme winner.
Says Dunbar: “Sometimes I don’t know who I am. I’m not sure now why I did it, but I still paint under Guild.”
She is also a mum of a young family and very much a part of the Guild family’s High Peak Station farming, hunting and agritourism operation in the Canterbury high country.
Having made the decision very early in life that she wanted to remain living rurally, Dunbar has been working as an actor-writerproducer of comedy duo The Bitches’ Box, which has toured nationwide delivering comedy shows in rural communities for the past 10 years.
The shows encourage rural communities to come together for a meal and a laugh and to build connections in remote rural New Zealand.
Dunbar teams up with Emma Newborn in the show, which is about two women living their best lives pretending to be dogs.
The two entertainers bounce from one character to another at breakneck speed, sharing fiercely funny insights into the minds and motivations of dogs. “We set out to have this community-minded show to give rural people a reason to get together,” Dunbar says.
“We were just two actors putting on a show, yes as bitches in a dog kennel, then it morphed into a mental wellbeing event.”
Dunbar and Newborn recently formed their own production company and are working on a feature-length film based on the live shows.
“We are recreating the woolshed atmosphere in the cinema. At the moment it’s a moving feast but all going well we will have the funding secured this side of Christmas, start production in February and be in the cinema in winter,” Dunbar says.
In a first for the business awards, the judges were presented with two entries by Dunbar in the creative arts category, featuring her work as a performing and visual artist.
“This provided real insight into her creativity and how she is using this to celebrate rural Aotearoa NZ,” RWNZ national president Gill Naylor says.
The sheep, beef and deer on Dunbar’s family farm provide the inspiration for her colourful artworks, which celebrate her love of her rural life.
Dunbar studied art at high school in Christchurch and a BA at the University of Otago, with majors in both art history and theory and theatre studies. She completed her studies at the University of Amsterdam.
“Living the bulk of my life on a high-country station means that my greatest influence has been all things animals,” she says.
“These moving, lively creatures always prove a challenging and dynamic subject and have given me the vehicle for years of exploration and experimentation in my art practice.
“I never seem to be satisfied with realistic depictions or colourways and I have found great enjoyment in showing my affection for these animals through texture, abstraction and palette.
“Amelia the Artist, that’s me. Nothing fancy, just a bit of paint and the odd bull.”
Career highlights include being employed as expedition artist for the Tracing Tea documentary filmed in India, and a commission from Fonterra to do a series of paintings and prints depicting the dairy industry.
“These works are now hanging in prominent company locations around the world.”
Judge Christina Chellew, executive manager for agencies at NZI, says the competition at the business awards was fierce this year and the incredible calibre of the entrants made judging a real challenge.
“The NZI RWNZ Business Awards continue to flourish year after year and the resilience and innovation of the entrants and their enterprises presented the judging panel with some very difficult decisions this year,” Chellew says.
“We were incredibly impressed by the diversity of businesses owned and operated by rural women throughout the country.”
Dunbar says the supreme winner award came as a real surprise.
“It completely blindsided me,” she says,
“Being a part of the awards evening was incredibly inspiring. We all had totally different businesses, all ground-breaking in their own way; it was a really innovative and exciting group of women.”
The winners for each category were:
• Creative Arts: The Bitches’ Box and Amelia Guild Art – Amelia
Dunbar • Emerging Business: Foxtrot
Home – Kate Cullwick,
Waipukurau • Innovation: Hopefield Hemp –
Jody Drysdale, Gore • Love of the Land: The Limery –
Dianne Downey, Wairoa • Rural Champion: Whānau
Consultancy Services – Serena
Lyders, Invercargill • Bountiful Table: The Craypot –
Dayna and Nicole Buchanan,
Jacksons Bay • Rural Health and Wellness
Excellence: Strong Woman –
Sarah Martelli, Reporoa
Amelia Dunbar The Bitches’ Box BITCHES’ BOX: Shut up in a kennel, Emma Newborn, left, and Amelia Dunbar deliver jaw-aching, wet-yourpants comedy. Photo: Jason Larraman
