Anna Jepson with some of her work. Photo / Supplied
Anna Jepson with some of her work. Photo / Supplied
Anna Jepson's "Nga Hoa Rangatira" has made the final cut for the prestigious biennial Adam Portraiture Award. INSET: Anna Jepson with some of her work.
Another Hawke's Bay artist has made the final cut in New Zealand's most prestigious portrait award.
Anna Jepson is one of the 45 Adam finalists selectedfrom 351 artists which celebrates New Zealand portrait painters, showcasing and capturing the changing face of Aotearoa.
The biennial event is one of the longest running shows with significant prize money of $20,000 made possible by the generosity of the Adams Foundation.
Jepson is a contemporary artist, living and working in the Bay, of Ngai Tahu and Danish descent.
Her interest in art has been eternal, inheriting an appreciation from an early age, attending art classes and completing a Fine Art Diploma in painting and drawing 2002.
Her work was selected for East 2020, and she was chosen to be the Hawke's Bay Wine Auction Artist 2020 and shortlisted for the Royal Academy London Summer Show 2021.
Anna Jepson's "Nga Hoa Rangatira" has made the final cut for the prestigious biennial Adam Portraiture Award. Photo / Supplied
After deciding on a career change seven years ago to paint fulltime she went on to study portraiture, regularly travelling to Florence to directly experience the work of the old masters, painting from life using the sight size methods practised by John Singer Sargent.
In her contemporary practice she uses a minimal palette, a mixture of mediums.
She says she enjoys painting large scale.
"The human form has always played a decisive role and I relish juxtaposing a traditionally represented subject in a contemporary environment, aiming to captured personalities, losing edges along the way often with the odd serendipitous finds," she said.
Her portrait for the Adams Awards 2022 captures a piece of Hawke's Bay history, inspired after painting the late chief Karaitiana Takamoana (Ngati Kahungunu) last year.
"I was captivated by the images of his three wives. These striking strong high-born wahinie, Beti, Mihiterina and Peti, all resided together in Pakowhai in the 1870s.
"Little is documented about them, Mihiterina was painted by Gottfried Lindauer in the1870s and is in Te Papa's permanent collection. Peti only had one son Arapeta (Albert).
"I was able to create Nga Hoa Rangatira with the blessing from Rose Mohi who is the great-great-granddaughter of Peti and Karaitiana Takamoana."
Her practice is mainly commission-based. Her work can be found in private New Zealand collections and galleries.
