DOROTHY Haig's textile piece titled Memories of a Fibulanomist features 140 handmade buttons covered in button-printed silk.

In fact, the impressive work has been awarded first place in the 2013 Southern Downs Regional Artists Exhibition.

"A print of something is like a memory," Mrs Haig said.

"That is why I called it Memories of a Fibulanomist - a fibulanomist is someone who collects buttons."

The Duechar artist said the piece took her a week to create.

"It is hand-dyed silk, printed with buttons," she said.

"Print-making is one of my favourite things to do as well as oils and acrylic on silk."

Mrs Haig gave up teaching a few years ago and returned to university to study an undergraduate degree in print-making and a master's in contemporary arts.

"It is good to be able to have time to do the things you want to do," she said.

Her win surprised her.

"It is usually won by the big oil painting," she said.

"I am quite pleased with my piece, but I am slightly biased."

Competition judge Sandy Pottinger said Mrs Haig's work encapsulated every aspect of the exhibition.

"It ticks a painting box, a textile box and as it is presented in a box frame to accommodate the assemblage, it could be said to be three-dimensional," she said.

"It is an enigmatic and alluring work of some 140 paintings on buttons.

"The presentation is simple, elegant and effective contributing to an almost Zen-like sense of contemplation," she said.

Mrs Haig now has an exhibition showing in Brisbane at Gallery 159.

Works from two major series, Phantasmagoria of the Interior and Laced with Place, will be on show until March 24.

"It has been a huge success," she said. "It has been lots of fun.

It was her first exhibition in Brisbane and the opening was well attended, she said.

To find out more about the artist and view photos of her other works visit her website dorothyhaig.com.