Hayley Elliott-Kernot standing beside her work. Photo/ Supplied
Works selected for a prestigious national art competition are on show at the Percy Thomson Gallery.
Four Taranaki artists were selected as finalists for the Adam Portraiture Awards. Their works are on show for a limited time at Percy Thomson Gallery before the national touring exhibition moves to its next stop.
Percy Thomson Gallery director Laura Campbell says the Percy Thomson Gallery is the only place to see the works in Taranaki.
Laura says as well as residents visiting the gallery, visitors from Australia have popped in to see the works.
"We've had so much positive feedback from people about the layout of the work in the gallery, but also about the Taranaki artists. It shows the strength of art in the Taranaki region. One visitor says the Adam Portraiture Award pieces are of the same level as Australia's Archibald Prize. It's nice to know the works here are on the same level as that prestigious show."
The exhibition closes on October 16 and visitors have only until then to see the works.
Waitara-based artist Hayley Elliott-Kernot's work has already sold so once the exhibition closes at the gallery, it will be shipped to its new owner.
Hayley says she is overwhelmed the piece sold so quickly.
"I'm very pleased it did sell."
Hayley's Holly and Sara - a family portrait features two people she knows quite well.
"For this portrait, I wanted to work with people who inspire me and Holly and Sara do just that. They had the ethereal Victorian sense of style I was looking for."
For the portrait, Hayley borrowed costumes from the New Plymouth Operatic Society.
"Holly and Sara dressed up in the costumes and then I took photos of them in their house with their dogs. It worked quite well. I'm so happy to be a finalist in the Adam Portraiture Awards."
Including an LGBTQIA+ couple in the portrait was important to her.
"Sara and Holly are amazing people and representing a same-sex couple was something I really wanted to do."
Hayley is also featured in this year's Taranaki Arts Trail and looks forward to showing people more of her work. Also featuring in the trail is New Plymouth artist Jana Branca, another Adam Portraiture Awards finalist.
Jana's work Debs is made using oil on canvas.
"I work with oil paints. I love the painting process and celebrating the mediums I use so celebrating the paintbrush strokes on the canvas is very important to me."
For the work, Jana has tried to evoke feelings from the viewer.
"I want to convey the emotions of what the person in the portrait is feeling which will then in turn make the viewer feel something."
As well as being a finalist in the Adam Portraiture Awards, Jama was also announced as a winner for the Tasman National Art Awards.
"I'm very pleased to have high placings in both awards. Both awards have such a high standard of work. It's definitely been a good month."
Jasmine Middlebrook, also based in New Plymouth, received a highly commended for the Adam Portraiture Awards.
Her work, Hold Your Horses, took roughly two months to complete.
"It was challenging to decide when the painting was complete. I enjoyed the process of trying to capture the light falling across faces."
Jasmine says her work depicts a fleeting moment shared between brothers.
"The raised arm of the boy in profile creates a barrier between viewer and subjects, encircling the scene, highlighting the closeness and protective nature of their relationship. Yet viewers are able to find a way in through the gaze of the central figure who is poised in anticipation. The horses galloping through the scene heading for an unknown windy road reiterates the central message of Hold Your Horses, the importance of appreciating the small moments. Magic can be found in the seemingly mundane."
New Plymouth artist Rafael De Armas's work The New Thought speaks about feminism.
"A critical action that proposes the rising of a society with greater justice and a new meaning of life, with the shared motivation of promoting paramount freedom and equality. The implicit concept in this painting will accompany the transmission of an idea that I wholeheartedly defend, Feminism, The New Thought."
Rafael says when he is creating artwork, he finds it essential to assess his work's virtual appeal and the presence of the viewer.
"All this, in conjunction with the valorisation of the conceptual content of the topic, will result in the efficiency and dissemination of its message."
■ The works are on display until October 16 at the Percy Thomson Gallery.