Rhonda Bunyan with the booklet, standing next to John McLean's art piece Wanderer arrives while Suzanne holds the mirror.
Percy Thomson Art Gallery is celebrating its 20th birthday by giving the gift of new art to the town.
The Art of Resilience, which runs until January 30, 2022, is curated by gallery director Rhonda Bunyan.
"I like to do a gutsy exhibition at the end of the year. It's the perfect time to do it."
The exhibition celebrates the gallery's birthday as well as highlighting the artists who have shown their work in the gallery over the past 20 years.
"We have 60 artists showing their work in the exhibition. All of them are established Taranaki artists with a strong relationship with the Percy Thomson Gallery who have experienced ups and downs with their work but are still going."
Rhonda says the exhibition has been a year in the making.
"This is funded by Creative New Zealand, who talked about funding projects about resilience artists in the art industry. It gave me the idea to gather all these wonderful people and do something amazing which highlights their work and also the gallery's birthday."
Rhonda asked contributing artists to submit artwork that had never been displayed before.
"There were a couple of special exemptions for artwork that suited the theme of the exhibition."
As well as sharing their art, the artists have shared a personal piece of themselves by providing a small profile to go in a booklet created for the exhibition, says Rhonda.
"Some people believe art shouldn't be explained and interpretation should be left up to the viewer. I believe insight from the artists helps the viewer see the artist's perception of their work.
"Some artists wrote their own profiles, and others used the questionnaire sheet I provided. The profiles provide details about the artists and personal insight into their creative process.
"The book features a lot of information about some of Taranaki's greatest artists and I hope it's used as a reference in future."
With every piece in the exhibition for sale, Rhonda expects some pieces to find a buyer very quickly.
"The quality of the art is amazing and a lot of people are collecting art at the moment."
Those who can't get to the gallery will still have the chance to view the exhibition.
"All of the exhibition pieces will be available to view online."
Rhonda says while the exhibition is fantastic, it is bittersweet.