Percy Thomson Art Gallery has two new colourful exhibitions

The Percy Thompson Gallery has plenty of talent on display with two new exhibitions.

The exhibitions are Angles of Perception – Woven Form and Ode to Colour.

Angles of Perception – Woven Form is a national exhibition by the Professional Weavers' Network of New Zealand.

The weavers extend their expertise into the field of two or three-dimensional shape in a limited colour pallet.

Using bold primaries and secondaries on black, the weaves and structures expound an energy and vibrancy for the viewer to walk through and indulge in. Every weaver is pushing the boundaries to create stunning pieces of art.

Works include sculptural forms and 2D hangings which encourage the viewer to ponder how they were conceived and created.

Inspiration for the hand-woven forms have come from various sources; architecture, nature, mathematics in the form of geometric patterns, digital formats, colour.

Ode to Colour is an exhibition featuring three Taranaki artists, Holly Smith, Henriette Reason and Brenda Cash.

Holly Smith's whimsical sense of humour and love of collage is evident in her work where cats, dinosaurs and anything else that takes her fancy, are mounted on bright backgrounds.

They often provide a smidgen of social commentary, or a play on words when married to the title of the work.

Brenda Cash's florals are bold and vibrant, with bold splashes of colour outlined in black to lift them from the canvas. The artist embraces vibrant colour, nostalgia, fun and experimental techniques.

Brenda has achieved acclaim as a singing, dancing, step-counting artist with a zest for the pleasure that creative endeavour brings to her life.

Henriette Reason's fluid acrylic paintings invite the eye to experience pattern, colour and form. Pigment is allowed to run amok, sometimes five or more colours interlacing to form their own dance of colour.

Some of her abstract paintings are left for the viewers to decipher, much like the ink blot test, while others are carefully orchestrated animals and dancers.

■ Both exhibitions are on show until Sunday, October 6.